


Break The Glass

by DarkHououmon



Series: Terry's Revenge [6]
Category: ChalkZone
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 05:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 123,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10550562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHououmon/pseuds/DarkHououmon
Summary: Sequel for To Lose Control and the final part of the series. "No! Wait! Let me go! You have to let me go! Please! L-Let me go... please..." "I know you want to see your parents, Rudy. I know, we both know, how much you miss them. Do you really think that we would purposely try to keep you from them?"





	1. Part 1

“In other news, Ms. Penny Sanchez is still missing after being reported as vanished three days ago. If anyone has any information on her, please call....”

Terry growled as she turned the television off, her lip curled up into a snarl. Well this was just great. Thanks to Rudy’s little stunt, they now had a renewed, stronger search party to try to find someone that she had possession of. She didn’t know why Rudy had to be so hasty. Did he not think about what could happen if....

No, of course not. He didn’t know anything about what was going on. He was still left in the dark. She had decided not to confess to him of what was going on. She knew that this is what she and Vinnie had agreed on, even if reluctantly. She had thought that it was a better route to take as he would find out sooner or later. But she soon decided that it was for the best to still keep it a secret. And besides, she just....couldn’t bring herself to tell him.

Not that she was getting any softer on him. She would be sure of that. She was going to try her damnest to make sure that Rudy did not play with her mind again. She had to remain strong, remain vigilant. She had to get this stuff worked out so that she could work towards exposing ChalkZone. She had to get herself mentally prepared to ensure that she could finish the job with...

She hissed softly as she felt another pang of emotion striking her. She clutched at her chest, feeling her heart beating a little hard. Gawd, not this again. Why was she feeling this way towards the prospect of getting rid of Rudy? For fuck’s sake, she had been excited before. She asked herself this question over and over again: why wasn’t she able to conjure up that same enthusiasm now?

She knew what it was. She knew that it was because she develop some positive feelings for the child. He had started to grow on her. Vinnie had been spot on, despite her efforts to push this aside. She couldn’t deny it. Not when its evidence was practically staring into her face.

She soon let out a sigh. There was nothing that she could do right now, though. She could try to pretend that it wasn’t bothering her and try to focus. But that was going to be hard. She could feel her head aching. It hadn’t exactly been easy trying to think of what she could do lately. Even Vinnie took note of how she was slacking. Hell, here she was three days later and she still didn’t fully decide with to do with Penny and Snap, or Rapsheeba.

But it was hard making choices. She had at least tried to think of something. Some ideas came to her and some of them were really good. Or so she thought. She would soon realize their faults and back down, not wanting to take the chance. That didn’t mean that she was throwing in the towel or anything. She just needed to try even harder.

At least she wouldn’t need to worry about Rudy for the time being. She had already assigned that brat a job. That’s what she ended up talking to him about earlier, actually, when she found him off of the couch. She decided to turn him into a guard of sorts. Keep an eye on his trapped friends. She promised him that this would only be temporary and that they would work things out.

Naturally, Rudy was a little unsure of this, but he did do what she told him to. She rarely saw him on the couch anymore; he spent most of his time in the basement unless it was time to eat, which then he woud join them at the table now instead of eating in the living room. Having him away and out of sight did make things easier and she hoped that this would in turn make it these feelings lessen a little bit and help her concentrate more. She really didn’t know for sure, but hey, here’s to hoping, right?

There was something that was bothering her, though. She had noticed the way that Rudy had been acting earlier. She couldn’t really shake it off very well. He seemed to be acting a little bit like he was getting suspicious. He was in the kitchen after all, despite being told to stay on the couch, and he did act like he had seen something that caused his trust in them to waver. This could be problematic if that were the case.

But they were so close to their goal, she wasn’t too concerned about it. So long as Rudy didn’t try anything before they could make their next move, that was fine. It might take a little while, though, and she had a feeling that it was not going to be easy. But she was confident that this was all going to work out for the best. She just needed to be careful with how she handled Rudy from this point forward.

Especially if he was starting to catch on. If he was to find out, it would be on her terms. He would not find out accidentally. She would do her best to ensure that.

Growling lowly, she got herself up from the couch. She needed to have a word with Vinnie, anyway. She wanted to discuss with him what to do about Rapsheeba. It’s been about three days and she was certain that zoner was starving. She hadn’t yet told Rudy to bring in food and water for her, but he probably already did that without her knowing. Then again, would he take the risk?

Whatever, she needed to make sure that she didn’t perish. She could have her get food and.... What was going to be next after that? That’s where Vinnie came in.

Finding the idiot wasn’t really the hard part. She knew exactly where to find him. After his....ordeal with Rapsheeba, he would most likely be in the bathroom, trying to get himself cleaned up. At least Rapsheeba was made of chalk, so that made things a lot easier. She shrugged the thought out of her mind for now as she moved along the hallway and headed straight for the bathroom.

As she approached, she could already hear the sound of Vinnie’s singing filling the air. She flinched at the sound of it. Oh gawd, why did he have to be singing...? She growled lowly to herself, pondering if this was some kind of punishment for what she had been doing. She shook her head a few times, clearing it as best as she could, as she reached over and began to knock on the door. Almost right away, she could hear the singing stop, much to her relief.

Then came Vinnie’s voice, “Yeah? Who is it?”

Terry narrowed her eyes at this. He couldn’t possibly be this dense, right? She rubbed her forehead as she leaned forward, pressing herself against the locked and shut door. “You know who it is, you numbskull. Open up. I need to talk to you.”

“What?! I’m not even....!”

“Then get your ass out of the shower and put some pants on or something. I’m not going to delay this discussion. We either have it now or never.”

“And just how important is it?”

“Very.”

She could practically hear Vinnie releasing a loud groan at this. She could hear his grumblings under his breath and she could hear him start to climb out of the shower, the faucet already turned off.

“Okay fine. I’ll be right out.” Hissed Vinnie. “I do hope this was worth interrupting my beauty shower.”

Terry raised an eyebrow. A beauty shower? Now she has heard everything. She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for him to come out.

She could hear Vinnie getting cleaned up inside. She could hear him stepping out of the shower rather noisily. She could hear his feet against the ground. She could hear the sound of a towel being yanked out of something and then she could hear it being rubbed against Vinnie’s back. She could hear him reaching in the drawers to brush his hair and whatever else that he had to do. And all the while, Terry just stood there, waiting for him to come out.

By the time that he did, she could tell that he really needed to dry himself a little more. He was still soaking wet and dripping, as though he had been dropped into some kind of large washing machine. He took a few steps out and shook himself as though he were a dog. He wiped his face slowly with one hand before he glared at her.

“So what was so important that you needed me to stop showering?”

Terry narrowed her eyes at the way that Vinnie said that. Such attitude... Was he really this obsessed with his looks? Well then again, he did provide enough evidence of that. She decided to push it aside. Staring at the half naked man before her, his body wrapped up in a towel, water still dripping along his body, his eyes glaring intently at her, she returned it with a glare of her own. “We need to figure out what to do about Rapsheeba.”

Vinnie’s eyes cocked upwards, his head tilting to one side. “Are we really on that again? Gawd...” He put his hand to his face and rubbed it hard, stretching his face downwards a little before releasing his grip. “I thought we had already...”

“It’s been three days and she hasn’t given us any more information.” Terry pointed out. Her hands gripped her sides as she straightened herself. “Your plan hasn’t really worked.”

Vinnie scoffed at this. “Just give me one more go at her and I can....”

“No. I think you had enough.... ‘fun’ with that zoner.” Terry tried to hide her disgust the best that she could. But it was difficult for her not to get angry at the man. He... she wasn’t going to say that he enjoyed this act, but he seemed to think that it was the best way to make her talk. And as she could see for herself, it just wasn’t working. “We need to try something else.”

“Oh... I see...” Vinnie didn’t really put much effort into defending his idea. Not to her surprise. If anything, he was probably relieved; it meant less work for him to maintain his hair’s looks. “So what is the plan then?” He folded his arms and leaned up against the wall. “Did you have any ideas?”

Terry sighed and shook her head. “No, not really.”

Vinnie smirked at this. “Well there’s a surprise.” He said with a broad grin on his face.

Terry narrowed her eyes at this. “Oh can it, you idiot. You’re in this with me, too. If I can’t think of anything, then you’re responsible.” She pointed her finger at him. “If you’re so smart, why don’t you be the one to come up with some idea?”

Vinnie blinked at this. He narrowed his eyes slightly before grabbing his towel and adjusting it around his waist. “Are you seriously going to try to pull that on me?” He pointed an accusatory finger at Terry. “You’re the one who wanted to do this. I was only in because I thought we could work together again. Getting Rudy involved with us was your idea.”

Terry gritted her teeth. “What are you saying?” She put her hands to herself. “That this is my fault?”

Vinnie smiled. “Oh come on now, you can’t be that blind.”

Terry could feel a rush of emotion surging through her body. She took a step forward as she glared intently into the shorter human’s eyes. She struggled to keep herself under control, and it took so much effort to get herself to back down before she did something nuts. But even after settling down, she still glared at him with a disgusted expression.

How dare Vinnie try to pin this all on her... How dare he try to say that she got them into this situation... He could have stopped her. He could have gotten her to just ignore Rudy or turn him over or whatever and they would have been free from this. And if Rudy hadn’t been such a selfish brat, she...

She stopped herself, letting out a soft, faint sigh as she closed her eyes and tilted her head. She rubbed her forehead with her fingers. There was no point in getting upset about this, she knew. There was no reason why she had to be upset about something like this. Vinnie was just being Vinnie, and her actions did help get them closer to exposing ChalkZone and getting rich. If anything, the trouble they were facing now would all be worth it.

If anyone deserved more criticism for their actions, it was Rudy himself, for capturing his own friends. Granted, this meant less issue in ChalkZone as she and Vinnie could now go there anytime they please to capture zoners. But at the same time, now they had to deal with two new captives and figuring out a way to keep them alive and restrained, as well as finding a use out of them, was not going to be easy.

But still, it might all pan out in the end. The only way to find out was to just keep going with this and hope for the best. They were just so damn close...

She pushed that thought aside for now as she said, “Perhaps Snap would be more helpful.”

“That little blue boy? He wouldn’t tell us anything. I guarantee that.” Said Vinnie.

“But maybe with the proper motivation...” Terry started to point out before stopping herself for a moment. She tried to think if it would really work and what they could do to get him to speak. Obviously not the same route as with Rapsheeba and he was not thrilled with their actions, so he might be less likely to....

Her thoughts stopped short when she heard the sound of foot falls down below her. Not much. Only two. She guessed that someone was kicking or stomping really loudly. Even though it was really so faint, it irritated her to the point where she just couldn’t concentrate on thinking of anything else.

So rather than continue their conversation, she turned to glare at Vinnie and opened her mouth to speak...only to get a better idea and shifted it to, “Stay right there. I’ll see what’s going on.”

Vinnie folded his arms to his chest. “I do hope that Rudy kid isn’t causing a ruckus.”

“I don’t think so. It’s probably one of his stupid friends. Hold on. I’ll return shortly.”

sss

“Guys, please, I...” Rudy’s voice trailed off. His mind kept spinning in circles as he tried to think of what he was going to say. But his words just kept failing him. And why wouldn’t they? He couldn’t think of how he was going to handle this situation. He had never been in something like this before. “I didn’t mean....”

But his friends wouldn’t listen to him. Or were they even still his friends at this state? They refused to speak to him. They hadn’t said a word to him since they woke up. He had thought that they would have wanted to talk to him a bit when he had arrived. But he had been proven rapidly incorrect when they didn’t even look him in the eye.

Oh gawd, it hurt so much.. He wished he knew how to apologize. But how could he? What could he say to make this better? He had literally captured them and helped to stash them away here. He had not offered any aid since they had arrived and had only been helping to keep them prisoner here. He had been doing only what Vinnie and Terry told him, even after he had started feeling a little suspicious of them. It was no wonder his friends didn’t want to talk to him.

And the only times that they would look at him, he could see and feel their glare just piercing right through him. He could feel himself shuddering at this and he tried not to let himself become too overwhelmed by this. But how could he help himself? How could he stop this? There was literally nothing that he could do except just let his mind be overwhelmed by horrendeous thoughts.

He knew that, in the end, this was his fault. He could have found another way to deal with them. He could have found a way to get away from his friends without them discovering what was going on. He didn’t need to capture them. He didn’t need to drag them into this. Even Terry seemed to sound like she was upset with him about this.

Rudy lowered his head and let out an exasperated sigh. Knowing that there wasn’t anything that he could do to get them to even look at him, he finally looked away and he went over towards the nearest wall. He put his back to the wall and slid part way down, his heels keeping him pushed up. He folded his arms to his chest and just remained in silence.

What was he going to do now? He had never felt so conflicted before in his life. Despite having some confusion regarding Vinnie and Terry, he....still wanted to believe they had some good intentions. He wanted to think that they really did want the best route for everything and that they would keep good on their promises.

And yet he still felt some stings of horror when he remembered when Terry had tried to do to him before. She was the reason that he was wearing this stupid pacemaker. She was the reason he had nearly died before. It was all her fault that he...

...and yet those feelings of anger and fear, while still strong, were partially faded by the trust that he had started to develop for her. She had plenty of chances to hurt him, but she never did. He started to wonder if she had started to genuinely like him, genuinely want to help him. As weird as that sounded, it was the only thing that made any sense. After all, she had the magic chalk now. She had access to ChalkZone. She could have just killed him and be done with it.

But she didn’t...did she...?

Rudy had to take this fact into consideration. Despite the headache that it was bringing him, despite the confusion that it was causing him, he just couldn’t dismiss this one crucial detail. He couldn’t dismiss the obvious lies of course, mostly in regards to supplies and them not going out, when in fact they did, but he also couldn’t push back all that they had done for him. They could have killed him, but they did not. Why bother keeping him alive now tha they have the magic chalk?

Although not fully satisfied, Rudy did feel somewhat better with this reassurance. He still wished that his situation with his friends could have gone better. He wished that they would try to understand. He never meant for things to be like this. He never wanted to hurt them. He...

He stopped his trian of thought when he could hear footsteps coming down in his direction. He lifted his head and he could see a shadow moving along the walls and then someone moving down. His brief flash of fear was replaced with relief when he saw that it was only Terry....or should that worry him? He stopped his thoughts from going any further as he waited for her approach.

Almost right away, his friends had responded negatively. They were calling out to Terry, demanding her to let them go, asking what the fuck they did to him, among other things. Rudy flinched at this words and he tried his best not to engage them.

Terry did likewise. She pretended that she heard nothing as she focused intently on Rudy. She moved in closer, her eyes seeming to almost pierce through him and when she got close enough, she said, “What was going on here?”

Rudy stared in confusion at this. “What do you mean?”

Terry frowned softly. “Please don’t lie to me, Rudy. I heard some stomping all the way upstairs.” She tilted her head to the side. “Just what were you doing down here?”

“Oh...that...” Rudy rubbed the back of his head nervously, feeling embarrassed that he had forgotten about that. “I-It was nothing, I swear. Penny was just angry and she kicked the cage. That’s all. Nothing to worry about.”

Terry frowned at this. It was clear that she wasn’t buying it. Rudy gulped a little and he shrank back a little. He was telling the truth, but Terry obviously thought that something more was going on. He did feel a little bad. He wondered if he had worried her. Maybe he should have been more careful. He hadn’t meant to...

“I do hope that you at least try to keep everything in order next time.” Terry finally said after a while of silence. She straightened herself up, staring down intently at Rudy. “I don’t want you getting into trouble.” She looked to her side, watching Penny, Snap, and Rapsheeba carefully. “By the way, I think it’s about time that you get them something to eat. I’m sure they’re hungry.”

Rudy blinked at this before turning to his friends. He realized that Terry was right. They hadn’t had anything to eat in a while and he was certain that they were hungry. He should get them a bite to eat so their stomachs wouldn’t eat them from the inside out.

But he hesitated to do anything about that. He kept his eyes fixated on his friends, slighlty flinching as he saw the way that they were looking at him. He licked his lips slowly and swallowed loudly. He didn’t know if there was anything he could do for them. Would they even accept his help? They were hungry, but what if they just tossed the food back at him?

He nearly jolted as he felt Terry’s hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, his eyes blinking slowly. She stared down at him, a smile on her face, trying to be reassuring. “I know they are being troublesome right now. But they’re still your friends. You should help them.” She gently squeezed his shoulder. It still felt comforting even now. “Don’t mind their anger, Rudy. They just don’t understand.”

Rudy wanted to smile at this, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He knew that Terry was right, of course. It was just... He still couldn’t stop feeling guilty about what he did. And why should he? Just look at the crap that he had pulled...

He struggled to shake off the feeling. Regardless of how he felt, he knew that they were going to need help getting something to eat. He was not about to let them starve to death. And if they didn’t eat, well, that was their problem. He was just trying to help them out. He could lead them to food, but it was up to them if they wanted to accept that help or not.

So with one more nod to Terry and a small thank you, Rudy made his way up the stairs, ignoring what his friends were saying. He shifted his focus entirely on getting something them something to eat. It shouldn’t take too long. He could whip up something for them all and then...

Hold on...

How would he...?

Rudy wasn’t able to continue thinking. Or rather, he just reminded himself that he would have time for this later. Right now, he had to go through with what was assigned of him. It wasn’t just that he didn’t want to let Terry down, though it was true that he wanted to stay on her good side. But he also knew that his friends were hungry.

So without another word, he just continued along. He silently hoped that Penny, Rapsheeba, and Snap wouldn’t cause too much trouble with Terry. He shuddered at the thought of her forbiding him to feed them for a little bit because they tried to attack her or something. He soon shook the thought out of his head. No, his friends were smarter than that. They wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the situation that they were in.

Right...?

sss

“Come over here so I can throw you against the bars, you creepazoid!”

Terry raised her eyebrow as she stared down at the small blue boy. A part of her almost considered going through with her plan of killing him. Reminding herself of Rudy being able to tell the difference quickly shot that idea down. So instead, she just exhaled slowly and looked away, doing her best to ignore him.

Penny banged up against the bars, almost harder than how Snap was doing it. “Open up this cage, Bouffant! This is unacceptable! You can’t keep us locked up in here like animals!”

Terry turned her head and cocked an eyebrow at her. Slowly, she turned around and walked towards Penny slowly. She kept her eyes hooked to the little girl’s. She almost smirked as Penny took a few steps back from the bars. Soon Terry was about two feet away. She put her hands on her hips as she stared down at Penny, trying to give herself a sense of authortiy. “Do you think I like having you here? I never wanted to bring you two in.”

“Then why did you get Rudy to....” Penny started to say.

Terry raised her hand up, silencing the girl. “I never told him to take you in. He did that on his own.” She slowly folded her arms she glared off at where Rudy disappeared to. “I admit, I’m very disappointed in him. I don’t know what he was thinking.” She looked down and stared at the frowning Penny and Snap, Rapsheeba a little further back and presently looking away. She smiled. “But perhaps this isn’t a bad thing.”

Snap grabbed onto the bars and pushed himself forward. “Oh yeah? And why not?”

Terry couldn’t help but smile down at Snap. He and Rapsheeba could easily go through the bars if he wanted to. And yet they both still stubbornly stayed in their cages. She guessed that they were afraid of a worse punishment if they tried to leave. She shrugged it off as she turned and stared off in one direction. She didn’t respond just yet. She simply just....stared.

And thought, of course. She thought of the situation that she was in, and just how this could be useful to her in the long run. She thought of just how she could manage to set things up to ensure her victory, and she thought of how these prisoners were going to react once they realize what she was getting it, what she was implying. The mere thought of it was enough to bring to her a sense of control. Actual control, too, not like what she was feeling with Rudy.

At the thought of his name, she froze for a moment and nearly frowned. She was ashamed to say to herself that she still didn’t really know what to think of that child or what she would do with him in the end. But... But she would think of something eventually, right? She just needed to focus on this for a while so her mind can be cleared up. And then she would find out what to do about him.

Deciding to end the silence and have a little fun with these three while Rudy was away, she said, “You know, it hadn’t been easy, with all of this. I wasn’t even sure that things would ever get to this point, you know? And now..” She chuckled once. “Vinnie and I finally have something that we have wanted for a long time.” She gave pause for dramatic effect before she finished it off with a, “...access...”

At this, Penny started to push harder against the cage. Terry turned her head to look at her in curiosity. It was a pretty amusing, though embarrassing, sight to see the supposedly smartest of the bunch trying to knock these bars down like she was a superhero or something. “You do not belong in ChalkZone!”

Terry rolled her eyes. What the hell would Penny know about ‘belonging’? What made her the boss of who could get in that world or not? At least Rudy started to have some sense about him. Rudy knew now that he couldn’t just keep everyone out of that world. It was both senseless and selfish. Why couldn’t everyone enjoy that world?

But there was no reasoning with this little girl. She was still delusional, just like Rudy had been. Perhaps she would sing a different tune if she kept her here long enough. But it would be rather rocky. With Rudy, being nice to him from the start helped out, but would Penny fall for the same trap after being initially treated like a prisoner? A part of her doubted that.

“Of course you would say that.” Terry spoke lowly, cocking her head to one side. “You haven’t changed much, have you?”

“I swore to help protect ChalkZone...” Penny shot back, her teeth bared.

Terry couldn’t take that expression seriously. And why should she? Penny was just a little girl. She had no authority over her, no matter what she thinks. And they weren’t in that stupid court anymore, so it wasn’t like she or Snap could call for help.

Her eyes slowly basked upon Snap at remembering how the little brat helped to get her caught and found guilty. She could feel her face wanting to glare, wanting to bare her teeth, wanting to show aggression....

...and yet she just smiled. She smiled because she knew that Snap couldn’t pull that off a second time. She smiled because she knew that she had a chance to shift things around. She had promised to show everyone that he was truly made of chalk. And now she was given a second chance to do so. She wouldn’t kill Snap of course, but it wouldn’t be any less painful....

And of course, she would just tell Rudy that it was necessary. To show everyone that zoners were vulnerable to water, to get people to realize what kind of protections zoners needed if people were to start entering that world. Rudy would understand the necessity, using a sentient zoner to show the urgency.

With her face still contorted into a smile, she said, “The good thing about having you three here...” She tilted her head and looked back behind herself. “...there’s less opposition in ChalkZone.” She could see them glaring at her, and she just smirked. “You know I’m right, don’t you? You all would have made it difficult for me and Vinnie to do what needs to be done.”

“What needs to be done?! Tearing that place down?!” Penny cried out.

Terry shook her head. “I don’t plan on doing any such thing. However...” She leaned forward a little, still smiling like crazy. “I imagine that you must feel so helpless, right? You were able to help get me caught before, but now look at yourself. You’re trapped with nowhere to go. How does it feel, little girl? Do you enjoy being trapped? Do you enjoy feeling what I felt?” Terry ground her teeth and she felt a bit of a burning sensation in her body as some anger began to crawl up to the surface. “Doesn’t feel good to be on the other side of the stick, now does it?!”

At this, the three prisoners, mostly Penny and Snap, quickly moved back. Terry had to recoil herself and stop her mouth from forming more words. She took in a few deep breaths and tried to settle herself down as quickly as possible. She gritted her teeth as she looked away, glaring off into the distance. Perhaps she wasn’t as in control of herself as she thought.

But she was able to quickly remove those thoughts from herself so that she could press forward with what needed to be done. She moved in closer to the cage once more. She folded her arms behind her back and stared intently at Penny, Snap, and Rapsheeba. She watched as their eyes narrowed, hers doing the same thing to match theirs. She tried not to chuckle in response, instead keeping her face darkened as though to keep them tense about her. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying her best to ensure that she wouldn’t yell at them again. That would be hard, but she felt that she could pull it off if she just learned, or rather relearned, how to control her emotions. She could do it with Rudy. She could do it here, too.

“S-S-Sorry about that. I guess I got a little carried away.” Terry decided that perhaps trying to work these three up hadn’t been her best idea. Or rather these two as Rapsheeba seemed to be not paying attention. Trying to sound as friendly as possible, she said, “I think we could try to... start of?” She noticed their glares ands he sighed. “Yeah, I know we haven’t had the best start or the best history and I know that you have every reason to hate me. But I’m sick of all this fighting. Vinnie and I aren’t trying to...”

“Aren’t trying to what? Enslave the zoners?” Snap’s voice was filled with venom. Terry looked at him in surprise, wondering just where the heck he had gotten that idea from. Seeing the look in his eyes suggested that he was haunted by something. “Don’t look at me like that. I know that’s what you were planning!”

Penny nodded in agreement. “We know exactly how you operate, Bouffant. You haven’t shown us any reason to believe anything that you say.” Her body trembled slightly as emotion ran through her mind. “I mean, look at what you did to Rudy! You shot him! You tried to kill him!” Tears formed in her eyes. “Why should we believe you if you tell us you don’t have any ill will towards the zoners?!”

Terry couldn’t move. She was suddenly struck by some strange emotions that she didn’t think she would feel right now. She tried to dismiss them, tried to pretend that it didn’t matter. And yet these feelings wouldn’t go away, and she was suddenly brought back to that day.

Yes, she remembered that day, how she had shot Rudy. She hadn’t forgotten, and for the longest time, she had felt nothing but pride about that. She had weakened the boy, which helped his capture be so much easier.

But why was she suddenly starting to feel so different? Why was this event, which once filled her with grim satisfaction, now starting to, stronger than before, make her feel so... different was the only word that she could use to describe the sensation now. She never felt like this before when thinking about what she did. Now it was digging in deep and she had to clutch her head tightly.

“Oh don’t tell me you’re starting to feel bad. You never feel bad about anything you do.” Penny growled. Terry turned to glare at her, but didn’t really attempt to say anything. Penny continued, “You’re happy about what you did to Rudy and now you’re using him for your sick little schemes. You’re a disgusting woman, Bouffant. If anyone found out about what you’re doing, you’d be through.”

Terry widened her eyes at this. It wasn’t because she knew Penny was right. That was a given. But the girl did suddenly remind her of something that she and Vinnie had almost forgotten about.

They were both wanted. Well she was at least. Would anyone want to listen to her after what she had done? Well she did think of it before, but...

Well that did place this whole thing into a dilemma. Was she then wasting her time doing this? Or should she just find some other way to do deal with this? Well Vinnie might be able to pull something off. He wasn’t as wanted in comparison and... Or would that be a waste of time as well? She just didn’t....

No, she couldn’t let herself fall into this. Penny was just trying to mess with her, to screw things up for her. What a low, damn, dirty trick... She was already having some issues lately with her feelings regarding Rudy. She didn’t need this added onto everything else.

But despite her anger burning up inside, she still managed to speak in a relatively calm voice. She knew that she had to. She could not afford to jeopardize anything. “I’m sure that, in time, you will come to see that Vinnie and I are not trying to cause you any harm. Whether or not you believe us right now, that’s up to you. At least understand that it was not us who captured you, but Rudy. If you want to be upset with anyone, talk things out with him.”

There was a low growl that eminated from Snap’s throat. “You did something to him.... Admit it!”

Terry shook her head. “All Vinnie and I did was help him out. He decided to help us in return.” She closed her eyes softly as she turned her head to the side. “He was finally able to see things our way and he knows that we do not mean any real harm.” She opened her eyes and gave them a sideways glance. “Whether or not you believe me, well that’s on you.”

The prisoners didn’t say anything else after that. They glared at her. They growled and snarled and looked like they wanted to say something. But they instead just chose to remain silent. It was as though they realized there was nothing that they could say. Terry was glad for the silence. She wasn’t sure if her aching mind could take anymore of this.

But at the same time, she was kind of glad that this happened. It served as an important reminder to herself that she needed to get her act together and figure out what to do with these three prisoners and how they could be used without upsetting Rudy. It was going to be hard, but she felt that it could be manageable. She would just need to be careful.

She felt some relief overcoming her when she heard the sound of footsteps fast approaching. It would seem that Rudy had already returned. She could easily hear his voice, or rather, his panting, which he recognized as him. She was a little surprised at how fast he went, but then, had it really been a short amount of time? She didn’t really know how much....

Oh whatever. At least it was quick and Vinnie was still waiting for her. She turned her head to smile at Rudy, who greeted her, albeit a little nervously, in return.

“I will leave you right to it.” Terry stretched herself a little, trying to provide some relief to her aching muscles. “I need to speak with Vinnie now. I promised him that I would speak with him soon. I don’t think I should keep him waiting much longer.”

Rudy nodded his head. “I understand. Should I..” He turned his head from side to side a little, as though unsure of what to say. “...stay here for a bit?”

Terry gave a slow nod of her head. “I’ll call you if I need you upstairs. Just...” She took a small step towards the stairs, although her eyes still fixated on Rudy. “Make sure that they eat. I don’t want them getting sick from lack of food.”

“Neither do I...” Rudy whispered as he looked over sadly at his friends.

Terry watched this for a moment. She had a fleeting sensation in her stomach, something close to guilt or sadness regarding Rudy’s situation with his friends. But she quickly pushed it out of her head as she forced herself to look away and begin to make her way up the steps. She shouldn’t keep Vinnie waiting.

sss

Hmm... There was no scent trail here. It had finally reached a dead end, didn’t it? That did strike it with some surprise. It had been searching around for a while, and the trail seemed to lead to large circles, but now it just seemed..dead. No new signs anywhere. Nothing to help it find that boy.

It shook its head once, snorting loudly, not wanting to give up so easily. It would find that child sooner or later. It didn’t know how or when or where. But it would find that boy if it was the last thing that it would do.

The chicken’s red eyes were narrowed, flames hissing out of the sides of its beak, as it turned its head from one side to the other. It breathed in and out heavily, its feathers ruffling a little from the shere effort that it was putting into all of this searching. It had a drive, internal and raging, to find this small human child. Its creator, Rudy Tabootie. And yet it could find nothing. At least, nothing of significance.

But Rudy was out there somewhere, wasn’t he? Its creator, its traitorous creator, was lurking somewhere in the shadows, just mocking it. The boy dared to defy it, something that caused the red chicken to shudder in rage. It had spent so long just brooding in this emotion.... It had no idea what possessed that giant to release it. Did he think that it would just bring back Rudy?

Oh no... It had something different in mind for that little brat.

The red chicken paused when it heard the sound of something shuffling and heading in its direction. It shifted its head just enough to see the familiar sight of a sentient sharpt-toothed window waddling towards it slowly. It was an almost comical sight, but its purpose was not so much.

The window was moving pretty quickly, almost as though it had some kind of news for it. But the expression was not as readable. Perhaps it brought sad news instead. As much as the red fire chicken would have preferred something more positive with its mission, any bit of news could be beneficial in some way. Even in some small, tiny bitsie way.

The chicken finally asked once the fanged window got close enough. 

The window shook its head...er, well its whole body in response to this question. It was quite the sight to behold. 

The chicken tilted its head to its side. 

_The window clarified._

_The chicken nodded its head up and down. With nothing else to do, it said,_

_The red chicken proceeded to follow the talking red window. It had to move pretty slowly considering its huge gait and this thing’s comical way of moving. It hoped that the window really did find something useful, for its sake. The red chicken did not want to feel as though it had wasted its time._

_sss_

_Penny looked down at the food presented to her, lifting her nose up in something close to disgust. She turned her head away, refusing to eat a bite of it. She didn’t care if Rudy was the one who brought it over to her. This wasn’t the Rudy that she knew, and he was only bringing them food on Terry’s orders. Why should she bother eating something that was ordered by Terry?_

_Okay so maybe she was being a little too.... What was the word? She couldn’t think of the word right now, but she wasn’t acting like her usual intellectual self. It would certainly get in the way of her and Snap getting out of here if she didn’t stop it._

_But she couldn’t help herself. How was she supposed to react, knowing that Rudy had fallen under enemy control? How was she supposed to feel with Terry’s attempt to get her to side with her? It was all going to end in distaster, she knew, as Terry had nothing good planned for ChalkZone, no matter what she said or tried to pass off. But that didn’t bother her as much as Rudy falling under her control did..._

_How could Rudy have let that happen to himself? She felt horrible for thinking like that. She hated feeling as though Rudy were to blame for this. It was just... she thought that he could hold out longer. She thought that he would have kept on trying to resist. It hurt her so much to see that he had failed._

_But she hadn’t been here when it happened. She had no clue what the boy had gone through here. She had no clue just how Vinnie and Terry earned his trust. She had no proof if it was all a scam or if they had legitimately helped or what. It was all just speculation. The only thing that she did know for sure is that Rudy seemed to, for the most part, trust them on some level. This was not something she had expected out of him._

_Especially when it came to Terry..._

_The thought of that caused her to grind her teeth hard. She couldn’t believe that Rudy would just... Did he not remember what she had done to him? Did he forget that Terry was the one who hurt him, tried to kill him? He couldn’t have possibly have forgotten about that, right? Penny’s mind flooded with all kinds of memories of the incident, and it made her shiver harder, blood rushing through her body. She felt her body nearly gushing with hot blood as her mind recalled the details of what happened not so long ago._

_Rudy getting kidnapped and a chip inserted into him..._

_Rudy threatened into silence..._

_Terry saying she would so something to her, the details of which were never explained..._

_Seeing Terry slap Rudy..._

_The court and how she shot Rudy..._

_The word ‘shot’ echoed throughout Penny’s mind and she fought back tears. She remembered that incident in such horrific detail. She remembered how Rudy almost seemed to be staring at her as he was shot, like he was asking her pleadingly to help him. Then there was a blast and his eyes seemed to roll in the back of his head. His face had been so pale as he dropped to the ground. Penny struggled to swallow her nearly emerging vomit before she turned and looked at where Rudy was now._

_He had moved away from the cage after he had dropped off their food for them. The food had been placed near the cage, enough for her and Snap and Rapsheeba to reach. However, none of them had touched their food. Rapsheeba, more for personal reasons that Penny couldn’t blame her for. She still felt rage towards Vinnie for what he did and she knew that wouldn’t go away anytime soon. And Snap had his arms folded and was refusing to look at Rudy._

_Penny bit her lip as she watched Rudy carefully. He wasn’t looking at them, either. There was some kind of strange look in his eyes, like a cross between sorrow and disappointment. And perhaps a bit of shame too? Maybe he did feel guilty about this?_

_Well of course he felt guilty, but that didn’t change the fact that what he was doing was wrong. Penny just wished that he would listen instead of continue to hide in these delusions. She wished that Rudy would break out of whatever brain washing technique was used on him and open his eyes to the truth. But such a thing was going to be hard. He even flat out refused to believe that Vinnie would....hurt Rapsheeba in...that way. He was so deluded..._

_Penny let out a small sigh as she looked away, her gaze pointing towards the ground. There wasn’t really anything she could do for Rudy right now. She and Snap had already tried earlier and he wasn’t interested in listening to anything bad they had to say about Terry or Vinnie. Whether it was out of desperate denial or whatever else, it didn’t really change what was going on right now, did it?_

_She took another look at the food that was presented to her earlier. She could feel her stomach growling, reminding her of the fact that she hadn’t actually had anything to eat in a while. Her body shook with some sense of weakness, and she licked her lips slowly. What was she going to do? And that water, sparkling in the light, her mouth feeling so dry... She swallowed hard and she leaned a little towards it. She couldn’t just..._

_No, she had to hold out. She had to show Terry that she wasn’t going to let herself remain prisoner her forever. She was going to show her that she was going to do whatever she could to resist anything that Terry had to offer them. She was not going to let herself fall under that control._

_And yet she couldn’t stop looking at the food and her shaking seemed to increase and her throat seemed to get scratchier. Could she really ignore this just for the sake of spiting Terry? What about her mother? What would she think if she found out her daughter starved herself to death? Penny shuddered to think of what would happen._

_She swallowed hard as she stared at the food again. She realized that, despite how it might make her feel, she couldn’t just let herself starve just because of Terry. If she and Snap were to get out of here, if they wanted to have a ghost of a chance, they would just eat, no matter how they felt about it._

_“Penny, what are you doing?” Snap asked when he noticed her moving towards the food. “Aren’t you just...”_

_Penny looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Snap, if we die... Who will help Rudy? Who will help ChalkZone?”_

_Snap just stared at her, remaining silent as Penny continued towards the food. It wasn’t that she was proud of having to do this. If anything, this made her almost feel as though she had given in. And yet at the same time, as she told herself, it would give into something better: a chance to stop Vinnie and Terry._

_As she reached forward and grabbed onto the food, and as she pulled it towards herself, she couldn’t help but feel her mind becoming bloated with several thoughts. She couldn’t shake off the feeling of disgust against herself for collapsing into this. She couldn’t stop wanting to betrate herself for being so weak and pathetic. She would have wanted to stay stronger and fight harder and resist Terry longer. But sometimes, things just don’t work out that way, do they?_

_Letting out a small sigh, she forced herself to take a bite of the sandwich. She shuddered and felt revulsed by it. Even though it wasn’t any different from any sandwich that she would normally eat, it still somehow tasted foul to her. And she realized that was because she knew that it was only given to her at Terry’s whim. Terry wanted her alive for something, and that lone was enough to make this sandwich unappetizing._

_And yet knowing that she would have the energy to try to help out Rudy later on, to live longer to fight back, that was more than enough to keep her continuing to consume the food, to drink the water that was given to her._

_Although how they would get out of here, she still wasn’t really certain. The most obvious answer was having Snap use his 2D powers, but then wouldn’t Terry and Vinnie have done something about that? Their threats so far seemed like that was the only thing stopping Snap, but they also could have rigged something up. Rapsheeba’s terror at Snap attempting to squeeze through strongly hinted at this. Penny bit her lip as she pondered what could have been done. She wasn’t affected, but Rapsheeba’s reactions clearly indicated something had gone on._

_Penny shook her head once and tried to clear her mind of these thoughts. They would just have to think elsewhere. There had to be a way to get themselves out of this place, and a way to get Rudy to realize that he was being controlled. Penny felt her heart ache the more that she thought of what poor Rudy must have gone through to enduce this state of mind. He seemed confused at least, but if she could just rattle him a little more..._

_“I just don’t get it.” Came Rudy’s voice, almost as if on cue. “Why are you so hesitant...?”_

_Penny turned her head to stare in Rudy’s direction. She narrowed her eyes a little and gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to be angry with him, and she tried her best not to show that much anger. But she could still feel her blood burning. It wasn’t really so much Rudy alone she was upset with; it was Terry herself, as she was the one who had done this to Rudy._

_“Why aren’t you willing to give Terry a chance? She hasn’t really hurt you.” Rudy explained, continuing from where he left off when Penny gave no prompt. He looked over at Penny, his eyes still holding confusion. Yet there was some spark of determination, as though he were desperately tryign to cling onto some kind of hope. “Please, I hate to see you all like this. Please consider working with them. It’ll make things easier, and it’s not going to be as bad as you think.”_

_Penny nearly flared up at this, but she managed to settle herself down. The way that Rudy spoke there and how he acted... She could definitely tell that he was hiding his own insecurities and his own doubts in an effort to try to push forward. Rudy must be starting to see through things, but he was refusing to address them. It was like he was too afraid to admit that something was wrong. Was he really this willing to keep a hold of what he believed that he would reject reality as well? Penny felt so sorry for him._

_Snap was the one who responded. “They would bring nothing but pain and misery to ChalkZone! They would enslave us all! You should know that!”_

_Rudy stared at Snap intently. “But what if they’re telling the truth? What if they changed?”_

_Penny flinched when she thought she heard Snap give off such a harsh scoff. She wanted to say something, but she felt herself become frozen where she was, her eyes wide and staring at Snap. There was something about him that caused her to shudder. It was like she wasn’t even looking at Snap anymore. It was like she was staring at an imposter._

_Snap’s face was contorted into some kind of a strange smile. Not really a ‘ha ha’ one, but one that was far more bitter. One that looked like, if she moved wrong, if she said one thing out of line, Snap would turn and attack her. Penny put her hand to her chest and struggled to keep her heart from beating so fast as Snap moved in closer, his large, white eyes focused intently on Rudy._

_“Changed...? You really think they can change...?” Snap’s voice was unusually calm, but to an eerie point. It was like something had grabbed onto Snap and was forcing him to speak through something else, something that kind of muffled up his voice. “Now why in the world would you believe that...?”_

_At this, Rudy seemed a little shaken, as though he didn’t expect this kind of challenging answer. Yet he still somehow stood his ground, still refused to back down, and he glared right back at Snap. “I’ve spent time with them. They took care of me. They fed me. They comforted me. They wouldn’t have done that if they were still bad people, would they?”_

_Snap was still smiling, although his smirk had somewhat faltered at this. “How do you know that it wasn’t some kind of a trick?”_

_Rudy growled deeply as he clutched his head tightly, shaking it from one side to the other. Clear signs of frustration were written all over his face. The emotions were hard to miss, easy to spot, and the message that it carried was rather clear. There was definitely something wrong and a part of Rudy knew it. And yet he was trying to fight it off, as though he was clinging onto some kind of false hope._

_Snap didn’t seem to make the connection. He was a little shaken, yes, but as Penny stared, she saw nothing in his expressions, nothing in his words or tone of voice, that made him realize the urgency of the situation. But then again, she wasn’t really all that surprised. Snap didn’t always catch on as quickly as she would have hoped._

_But she knew what was going on here. She was able to make the connection. She could see right through Rudy’s words and his tone. She saw right through this situation. And what she saw on the other side was far more frightening than she thought it was going to be._

_Rudy really had been brainwashed, but not in a way that she had expected. Oh no, this was not just mere brainwashing. This was not just a forced control thing. No, there was some sort of bond here. Something had been developed that hooked Rudy to Terry and Vinnie. And this bond was what was preventing him from completely turning against the pair, even if he knew that, deep down, they couldn’t be trusted._

_Penny could feel her throat going dry and her stomach going through uncomfortable stinging and foul bile making its way up her throat._

_Rudy had been subjected to..._

_Stockholm Syndrome._

_Penny could feel a rush of horror going through her body, chilling her blood as her hands were brought to her mouth. She couldn’t stop herself from gasping loudly, her wide eyes staring at the ground before she forced herself to look at Rudy. She could feel tears forming in her eyes as the connections were made._

_How in the world didn’t she see it before? How could she have missed it? The signs were right there. She knew something was wrong, but she didn’t think it was this bad. If he really had been trapped here this entire time, that was a lot of time for those two to force a bond with Rudy, making him trust them..._

_Oh gawd, this was going to be hard. How could they help Rudy, if Rudy doesn’t seem to full realize what had happened to him...?_

_sss_

_“Are you sure you didn’t find anything yet? Did you look everywhere? Did you...”_

_“Ma’am, we promise you that we are doing everything in our power to find your daughter.”_

_“Can’t you hurry it up? Send out more people?”_

_“We’re already spread out as thing as we can be. I’m sorry, but there’s no way to speed up the process. We promise that we will alert you to when we have found something.”_

_“Oh all right...”_

_“Sorry. Bye.”_

_“Yeah...”_

_Mrs. Sanchez placed the phone back on its hook and just took a slow step backwards. She remained there for several long moments, her mind shuffling through the recent events. She tried to not let herself get dragged down too far, or else that would start to affect her business._

_Although she was already too late on that._

_Her customers had noticed a change in her attitude. She was a little snippier, a bit more emotional. Not paying attention as much and her mind wandering. She didn’t really mean to be, and she knew that she had a duty to her vet clinic and to her customers who come to have their pets looked after. But would they really blame her if she were upset over her missing daughter? She doubted it, but she still kept it a secret from them, anyway. She didn’t want to give them any reason to fret over her._

_Trying to move on with her work was difficult. Not having the extra hand with Penny like she normally did hadn’t really reflected very well on her psyche and her condition. She did still do her best to keep working, since she did usually do most of the work anyway. So it wasn’t a huge change._

_But was affecting her even more was that.. She had no idea where Penny was... When she learned how Penny had gone missing, she just..._

_Mrs. Sanchez tried not to think about it too much. She tried to convince herself that Penny would show up soon. That she would be able to open up the door at some point and Penny would be there, walking up to her, hugging her... Mrs. Sanchez could feel herself smile a little, a tear forming in her eye, as she thought of her daughter greeting her. She had taken advantage of this for way too long. The moment that she got her daughter back, things would change._

_...if she got her daughter back..._

_She felt an emotional kick to her gut at this thought. She sucked in a sharp breath and she shuddered, struggling not to let herself start sobbing again. She put her hand to her stomach and carefully rubbed it. Overtime, she was able to gentlye soothe her stinging stomach, but she was still caught her emotional prison for a few seconds later._

_A part of her didn’t know why the police hadn’t found her yet. She was gone for a few days. Wasn’t that enough time to find her? Mrs. Sanchez shook the thought out of her mind as she realized that she couldn’t make anything go faster, and she couldn’t blame the police if they had not found Penny yet. They were only human after all, and they were doing their best._

_But then she remembered how Rudy hadn’t been found yet either. Weren’t they getting close to calling off the search? What if Penny wound up like Rudy? The thought made her feel so sick to her stomach, and this time, even rubbing it didn’t help her out. She nearly dropped to her knees, struggling to cope with these painful feelings. The only good thing about it happening now is that she won’t have anyone coming by for a while, so she had time to mourn, time to think about all of this, time to cope._

_But oh gawd, it just wasn’t fair. Why did this have to happen? What did Penny do to deserve this? What sicko took her? What did they want with her? And just where did they take her? Was she in some other state now? Or another country?_

_Was she sold to the..._

_She immediately hissed and jerked her head to the side. No, she could not let herself think about something as vile as that. No, she had to keep her mind focused and as steady as possible. She wasn’t going to do herself any favors if she let herself become too pulled down by the weight of her emotions. Considering that she deals with many people with various moods and had to balance a stressful workload, she of all people would know the importance of this._

_But gawd.. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold out. She needed to talk to someone about this. She needed to get some of these emotions out when she had the chance._

_Maybe it was time for another visit to the Tabooties’. They could use some emotional support as well as her. Their son is gone and so is her daugther. And for all she knew, the same mysterious force had taken them. Now was the time that they should come together in this darkest hour._

_And maybe, just maybe, they could figure out what happened to their children._

_sss_

_Mrs. Tabootie reached out with her hand and carefully placed it on Mrs. Sanchez’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry that they haven’t found her yet. I...I know the feeling...”_

_Mrs. Sanchez nodded her head slowly. “Yeah, I know. We’re both at a loss, huh?”_

_Mrs. Tabootie wished she could say something more comforting. She wished that Joe were here to help her out. But the man had gone to work. Not that he wanted to, as he had a recent nightmare about Rudy and was quite spooked about it. But his boss wouldn’t let him take the day off. So reluctantly, he had to leave, forcing Mrs. Tabootie to be alone._

_She was glad that Mrs. Sanchez came over today. She did need someone to talk to, and now that this woman lost her child as well, she felt...more connected to her than before. She did flinch slightly at that thought. Did that make her selfish? She tried not to let the thought get to her. At least Mrs. Sanchez was here now and they could comfort each other in their time of need._

_Mrs. Tabootie still couldn’t believe what had happened. It was all so sudden. First, Rudy disappeared from what was supposed to be a short trip. And then Penny vanishes from school and.... Oh gawd, what could have happened to them...?_

_She didn’t even know if it was the same person doing this. There was nothing connecting these two crimes other than they were small, ten-year old children. The locations were not remotely the same, and the school was even occupied. So how in the world did this person get Penny? And if they did take Rudy too, why would they risk going that extra mileage and go to a public school of all places to take a child?_

_Something about the whole thing just didn’t feel right. Something was off, and she couldn’t tell exactly what it was._

_“Who could have a grudge against both of our kids?”_

_Mrs. Tabootie nearly jolted at that sudden statement. She stared at Mrs. Sanchez, wondering just what had brought on that statement. What would make her say something like that? It was just so..sudden. “What do you mean..?”_

_“Well I know that we don’t know if it was the same person or not. But..what if it was...?” Mrs. Sanchez turned and stared at Mrs. Tabootie, her eyes going wide. “If it was the same person, then what would be the motivation? What would make some damned creep kidnap our children?”_

_Mrs. Tabootie couldn’t really think of a response to that._

_Mrs. Sanchez didn’t really look surprised by the lack of a response. She said, “I feel the same way. I...I have never felt so lost...” She slowly looked away, staring off into the distance. “I want to believe that it’s not some big conspiracy. I was never one for that kind of bullcrap. I want to believe that there isn’t someone who hates both of our kids. But...” She glanced at Mrs. Tabootie out of the corner of her eye. “...doesn’t it seem odd that they are the ones taken? What are the odds of something like that happening? That two children who know each other, go to the same school, would both disappear in relative short time from each other? And if it was the same person...”_

_“I don’t think we should be drawing any conclusions yet.” Mrs. Tabootie quickly said. It wasn’t that she didn’t see any point in what the thin woman was telling her. But considering their emotional states right now, both of them trying to fight off crying more painful tears, now didn’t seem to be a good time to be considering something like this._

_Mrs. Sanchez scrunched up her nose briefly. “Yeah I know. I just can’t help it. The police...”_

_“Yeah I agree that I feel they should be doing more. But at least they’re trying.” Mrs. Tabootie wasn’t really sure how long she could say that and still believe it. She was getting drained from all of this and it was rapidly getting to the point where she just wanted ot say ‘well fuck it’. “I’m sure we’ll get our kids back soon.”_

_Mrs. Sanchez looked away from her for several moments. At first. Mrs.Tabootie thouht that she had upset her. She was getting ready to apologize, but then Mrs. Sanchez broke the silence. “I came here hoping to help you feel better...as well as curb my own turmoil. But it’s not working.” She looked back at Mrs. Tabootie, her eyes looking so watery. She blinked once and tears dripped down her face. “I-I wish that...”_

_Mrs. Tabootie moved in closer immediately, taking the woman into her arms. “Shh... It’s okay. Don’t push yourself.” She kept Mrs. Sanchez in her embrace. She could feel the woman slowly hugging her back. “We’re in this together, right?”_

_Mrs. Sanchez pushed up against her a little, as though trying to seek out the large woman’s comfort. “Yeah... We are...”_

_Mrs. Tabootie smiled the best that she could. It wasn’t really as much of a smile as she would have liked, but it was still something at least. She wanted Mrs. Sanchez to feel safe, to feel as though someone cares about her. The poor woman, like herself, didn’t really go out and see many people lately. And at least she herself had her husband to speak to. Mrs. Sanchez must have been so lonely..._

_The two woman remained standing and hugging like this for a while. They shared each other’s warmths, tried to soothe each other, whatever they could. It took several moments before they could pull away and stare at each other in the eyes. They could see a real sense of understanding in one another, something that they wouldn’t get from many other people. After a quick but weak smile to each other, the two moved towards the nearby couch to sit on._

_“We’ll figure out what happened soon...” Mrs. Tabootie whispered. “I promise.”_

_“...and I can promise you that, too.” Mrs. Sanchez spoke weakly. The two women shared a weak smile at this before falling silent._

_Mrs. Tabootie felt her mind wander a little as she tried to think of any sort of connection herself. What if Mrs. Sanchez had a point and there was one kidnapper? Someone who had a grudge against both Rudy and Penny? But who could hate both of their children? Who could have wanted to..._

_And then it struck her like a train wreck. There was someone that she knew who fit the bill. Someone whom she would rather forget. Someone who had already terrorized Rudy before any of this had happened._

_...Terry Bouffant..._

_sss_

_Things felt so...quiet. It was almost peaceful and serene. It was like he could just lay down here all day and not have a care in the world. He could do whatever he wanted. No one was really stopping him._

_...and he hated it._

_Skrawl kicked at the ground, releasing a loud yell. His foot hit against the small rock and he watched it fly across the air. He thought that it would leave him with some satisfaction, but it only left him craving more. And even when he kicked more and more rocks, tried to strike the ground as hard as he could, he just was not able to completely rid himself of this horrible feeling._

_It had been way too quiet since Master Tabootie had vanished. He disappeared months ago, leaving only Genius Girl to protect ChalkZone. He didn’t even count Snap._

_At first, he had been happy about this. With less opposition, he was free to try more ways to take over ChalkZone. Penny was less experienced, so it wouldn’t have been too hard to hatch a plan to outwit her and then dominate this pathetic world. He could have snatched ChalkZone right out from underneath that stupid boy’s nose. It would have been so easy..._

_...then Skrawl just sighed. It didn’t matter if he won or not. He didn’t really feel the same without that little boy. He didn’t really know why, but something just felt like it was...missing. He couldn’t describe it. It was almost like... like there wasn’t any point in conquering ChalkZone if Rudy wasn’t even here to witness it._

_Well, beggers can’t be choosers, now can they? He could either just stand around and wait hopelessly for this boy to return...or he could work on a new plan to try to take over this stupid world. Maybe Rudy would come when he had already taken over. That would be something of a deligh, would it not? Sure it wouldn’t be exactly how he would have preferred it. But still, it would be something at least._

_Skrawl stretched himself out, the sensation in his muscles feeling so good. He wasn’t really sure how long he had been out here. Perhaps it was time for him to return to his Beanie Boys and see what they were up to. He hadn’t really been gone that long, but he knew how restless they could be._

_Hmm, what was this...?_

_Skrawl stared out ahead and he thought he saw some kind of crimson shape running across the land. He blinked a few times before he started to rush towards it. He wasn’t even sure why he did it. Just something about it drew his attention and..._

_He stopped and pressed himself against the large boulder in front of him. He moved around slowly and he peered on the other side. Soon he was able to see over the edge and he froze instantly._

_Were those... red chalk zoners...? What were they doing...?_

_sss_

_The red chicken folowed the window-like creature close behind. It knew to keep a certain distance away, knowing how fragile it might be. A dead, crushed window was not going to be of much use right now, is it? But it wasn’t like the window had really given it much reason to really believe its earlier claim. There wasn’t even anything to prove what it said._

_But there wasn’t anything about the fellow red chalk zoner’s behavior that disproved this. There was nothing that would make it assume that it had been lying. It was just... moving around, like it had expected something to show up._

_This confused the red chicken, making it wonder just what this window zoner had been expecting. Was there something that was supposed to happen here? Did they miss something? What was going on? True to the nature of red chalk, the red chicken could already feel its body start to heat up and flames started to spark out of the sides of its beak. It was getting very close to just spraying the flames upon the fanged window for wasting its time._

_It was reminded on when they believed that they had been close before. It didn’t quite recall just how they had missed it or what had screwed up, but it made the red chicken feel desperate for the creation of a time machine. Why hadn’t any of them thought about that? They could have done something to rewind time and ensure that something like this couldn’t happen. They could have ensured that they would always be in charge. All of this was just...a waste._

_The red chicken let out a sigh as it continued to watch the red fanged window moving about on the ground. The fact that they were back here in that spot where they had almost gotten Rudy didn’t really help. They didn’t have anything here to help them out. So did this red window think that if they waited here, a portal would open? That was pretty silly. What were the odds of that?_

_Standing around here wasn’t really going to help and this was something that was abundantly clear. Perhaps it was best if it took over the search. It had high hopes for this damned red window or mirror or whatever it called itself having actually found something. But in the end, it was all just some kind of dead end. It was pointless. What was..._

_That was when the red chicken thought it heard something. It moved its head from one side to the other, watching the area around it carefully. It could feel its fleshy red crest moving about as it watched one particular spot. It was faint, but something was going on there. A small scrape, a slight partial with flashing colors..._

_It blinked a few times. Was this what it thought it was? It shook its head a few times to try to figure out just what the heck that this was. It stared intently, blinking slowly, its mind churning about. It tried to piece together what this was implying. Those colors and that sound coming from this spot, the one that this seemingly insane window had been hobbling around, circling around for the last several moments... Could it be of anything significant...?_

_The red chicken moved in closer. With a few echoing steps, it lowered its head and it stared intently at the anomaly. It swayed its body around, turning its head from side to side. Something about it seemed...familiar..._

_And that’s when flashes started to zip through its mind. A collective conscience seemed to have struck it out of nowhere, making it stumble back. It wobbled and flailed its wings a little as startlement took it over. It shook its head once to try to drive it away and then it refocused its attention on that particular spot. But unlike before, now it had a better understanding of what this damned thing was. It narrowed its dark eyes slowly as realization rapidly dawned on it._

_It was a portal._

_Or rather, a not completely destroyed portal._

_From the looks of it, most of it had been erased, but parts of the magic chalk had clustered around enough to make a very faint portal. It was only about an inch in diameter, but it still existed. It was still a gateway to the other world...to the other side....even if it wasn’t large enough for either of them to use._

_But it wasn’t something that brought any joy to the red chicken. It had flashes of bad memories with this dang portal, and portals in general. On the other side, their powers are weakened. Red chalk didn’t have the glorious control that they normally had. Seeing this reminded it of its past failures, of when creators would drag them to the Real World where they would be, more or less, defeated. They stood no chance against the creators in the Real World._

_So really, all this portal being here did was remind it of all the red chalk’s failures. Its own failures. It gripped the ground tightly, scraping its claws along the ground. If it could grab onto the portal, it would tear into it and...._

_There was a small rustle in the distance. Something was here. Something had followed them._

_Immediately the feathers on its massive, thick neck bristled and it released a low growl. It slowly turned its head to where the sound had come from. It could see the large boulders it had walked past earlier. It stared for a while, trying to see if there were any details that were different, or perhaps this boulder was just getting ready to break apart? It seemed a little on the flimsy side._

_...no, there was something there. It could see the shadow. The chicken slowly raised its wings up and pressed them against itself as it moved in slowly. It walked a broad circle around as it kept its attention fully on this thing, looking for anything that might tell it what...._

_The red chicken yanked its hard back and released a gobble-like sound when it saw something flash before its eyes. Something greenish in color and almost jellybean in shape. It moved along the ground went to another side. It blinked its eyes a few times and shook its head before turning and trying to follow this blur of motion._

_The window didn’t seem to pay attention. It looked more like it was entranced by the portal thing, like it was drawn to go in and try to look for that blasted boy. It probably wasn’t going to move for a while from that spot. It was just staring like nothing else was going on in its life._

_But the red chicken was more interested in catching this little intruder. It had invaded onto this land. It had followed them. Now it was going to pay the price for that. With its wings spreading outward, it charged over to the last place it had seen the thing go, pounding its feet against the ground._

_It twisted its body around as it snapped its beak forward, narrowly missing the jellybean zoner as it jumped to the side. With it now running in front of the chicken, it could see its hideous design. How lumpy it was, how it only had three limbs, the gruesome antennas, all of that... It was such a horrible sight and it nearly made the chicken want to rage out even more. With a low bawking sound, it rushed forward once more._

_When it got up close again, it opened its mouth and let its fire breath shoot along the ground, spreading along the surface and trying to envelope the creature. But somehow, it managed to slip through. Despite its wonky design and abnormally large size for a ‘standard’ zoner, this thing managed to move in a zigzagging pattern rather well. It was almost a shame that it would have to do something about that._

_The red chicken opened its mouth and once again breathed fire, hoping to trigger the jellybean zoner into moving in the right direction. This time, as it dodged, the red chicken was able to raise its leg up and smash down its foot. It instantly felt the satisfying smooshing sound of its feet touching against the disgusting creature’s body. And it slowly applied pressure, ensuring that it couldn’t escape._

_“Release me at once!” The thing shouted. “Don’t you know who I am?! I’m Skrawl! I demand to be treated with respect!”_

__The red chicken suddenly paused as it leaned in closer._ _

__Skrawl nodded. “In the flesh.” Skrawl started to twist about under the grasp of the red chicken. “What the heck are you doing out here? What are you planning?”_ _

__The red chicken blinked its eyes a few times. Then an idea came to its mind and it smiled darkly. Or at least the best that it could, given the fact that it created itself with a beak._ _

__sss_ _

__Vinnie narrowed his eyes as he glared at Terry. He wasn’t really sure how much more of this that he could take. It has been enough time now. Three days. Why hadn’t she thought of anything? Why was she still standing aroundl ike an idiot? Why hadn’t she..._ _

__Vinnie tried to shrug it off as confusion. That was probably very well what it was. Terry just....had no idea what to do as things had taken a bizarre turn. They hadn’t counted on having Penny and Snap as prisoners._ _

__But still, this wasn’t like her, and it was starting to worry him. He wondered if this had anything to do with Rudy. She had been getting too soft with him lately. He was very close to suggesting that she do something to break his bond with her so that she could focus. She wasn’t going to be able to properly utilize anything that they had gained if she kept thinking about Rudy._ _

__But truth be told, he was kind of afflicted as well. There was an unfortunate side effect of this whole Stockhole Syndrome thing that they hadn’t thought of or prepared for. What was it... Lima Syndrome or something? Yeah, something like that... Sort of the reverse of the whole thing. In the process of trying to get Rudy to trust them, they had begun to fall victim themselves. And now they, especially Terry, had started to feel sympathy for Rudy and that was getting in the way._ _

__Yet he knew that it wasn’t as simple as ‘turn the switch off’. No... It was far more complicated. You couldn’t just turn off emotions. It wasn’t so cut and dry. It was for this reason that, despite his frustrations with Terry, he couldn’t really bring himself to be too rough with her. He was guilty of the same thing, after all._ _

__And now the question was...._ _

__What were they going to do about it...?_ _

__Vinnie swallowed hard, trying to find some way to break the silence. He didn’t like seeing Terry this way. It caused him to lock up himself. Even though he acted like he was on top of things, lately, if he wanted to be honest, he was kind of looking up to her for support. To se eher like this...._ _

__Shaking his head, he moved closer to Terry, who still hadn’t said anything after he had asked her what they were going to do. He thought that she had an idea. Had she truly forgotten? What happened down there to make her forget? Did it have anything to do with Rudy? He would bet his soul that it did._ _

__“So..still nothing...?” He asked in a low, forcibly calm voice._ _

__Terry shook her head and seemed to snap out of what appeared to be a daze. “Y-Yeah...I..just..”_ _

__“You need to try to be more focused. Did you already forget your precious idea?” Vinnie growled softly. He hoped he wasn’t being too rough with her, but at the same time, he wanted her to realize how silly she was being lately. “You seemed really determined to say something about it and then you just...forget.”_ _

__“Yeah I know.” Terry rubbed the back of her head slowly. Her expression did not share any of her usual confident traits. It was like she was falling apart, becoming a little disheveled. “It’s just... I don’t know...”_ _

__Vinnie frowned at this. It was becoming very clear to him that Terry had started to run herself down to the bone. She had been at this for a while, struggling and trying to figure out how to use Rudy and focusing on getting him to trust them and all that jazz. But it was wearing her out mentally. Perhaps this played a factor into how they began to sympathize with Rudy. Maybe they had weakened themselves._ _

__And now it was too late to do anything._ _

__Or was it...? He wasn’t really sure._ _

__“Look, we need something to do with Penny and Snap. We can’t just let them stay here, but we can’t let them go either. But as you said, we can’t kill them.” Vinnie raised his hand up in gesture. “And honestly I don’t know how well I would want to go with that plan.”_ _

__Terry glared softly at him. “And yet you were willing to do that to a zoner...”_ _

__Vinnie narrowed his eyes. Did she really have to bring that up? Did she honestly think that he completely enjoyed that? Well okay, fine. He would admit that he did have a little bit of fun. But only to a certain extent. The fact of the matter was, the act was still uncomfortable and he only felt a little okay doing it because she was ‘just a zoner’._ _

__He froze momentarily when he almost thought that Terry was suggesting that he do the same thing to Penny and Snap. The thought soon left him as he realized that Terry wouldn’t suggest such a thing, even in her tired state. There are somethings that you just don’t ever consider. Especially with your own kind._ _

__“Well....” Vinnie spoke, trying to break the silence. “I think we could probably, well... interrogate them about zoner breeding?”_ _

__Terry turned to stare at him. She looked...not really disgusted or confused, but her expression was a little bit off. It was hard to describe what it looked like and it was even harder to figure out just what she was thinking. Eventually, she did manage to speak and her voice was filled to the brim with...something. “You think that they would tell us...? You know what happened to Rapsheeba...”_ _

__Vinnie flinched at this, but he remained firm. “Yes, but now that we have three of them, maybe we could use...persuasion to convince them to tell us.”_ _

__Terry tilted her head to the side, still frowning deeply. It was ahrd to tell if she was even considering this idea. And frankly, a part of Vinnie realized that it may not fully solve their problem. But hey, at least they could use those two for something. Using them against Rudy wouldn’t work as it would destroy that trust and, as much as Vinnie would say that they are well past needing him, he did quickly realize that they probably should keep him on their side for the time being. And they would lose his trust quickly if they did anything to hurt his two little friends._ _

__But that didn’t mean that they were useless. If they found a way to persuade them that didn’t involve anything too horrendeous, they might be able to get information out of them. His...actions with Rapheeba hadn’t really provided any good results. So the next best thing was to try to do ask questions from someone else. Someone whom he hadn’t done that to._ _

__It still wouldn’t be easy and he fully acknowledged that. The problem was going to be, well...how do they get Penny and Snap talking when they probably knew what he had done?_ _

__Which brought him to his next point._ _

__“I think that you should be the one to talk to them this time.” Vinnie said._ _

__“Me? Why?” Terry asked. She didn’t really sound profoundly shocked or anything. Just unsure of the whole thing. “It was your idea. You don’t want to get credit for it?”_ _

__“Well, yeah.” Vinnie nodded his head slowly. “But... they probably know that I...” His voice trailed off as he gritted his teeth nervously, his eyes shifting back and forth. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in having to deal with their... Yeah.”_ _

__Terry blinked a few times at this before she seemed to realize what Vinnie was trying to say. She pulled her head back and she nodded slowly. “Oh...I see...” She whispered softly. “You’re afraid that they will retaliate against you.”_ _

__Vinnie shook his head, his hand moving from side to side. “You think those two scare me? They’re just puny little children. I could take them.” Vinnie put his thumb firmly against his chest. “But the point is, they know what I did and it would be harder for me to talk to them without having to resort to....well, you know.” He pointed a finger at Terry. “But you didn’t hurt Rapsheeba like I did. They might be a little more talkative to you.”_ _

__“That sounds like a pretty good theory, Vinnie. A shame that it doesn’t hold much water.” Terry folded her arms to her chest. “Unless you forgot, I’m the one who shot Rudy and nearly killed him.”_ _

__Vinnie froze at this, his finger loosening and dropping down. Yeah, that was a very good point. He wasn’t even sure why he had forgotten about that detail. Not like it was exactly small._ _

__Oh shit, now that was definitely going to complicate things. What were they going to do now? Fuck, if only they didn’t have to worry about trying to keep Rudy’s trust, then they could just go all out to get that information and... No, they wouldn’t even need that information. The only reason they agreed to be helpful to the zoners was to appease Rudy and if they no longer had to do that..._ _

__Vinnie flinched as his headache was getting worse. Trying to think of what to do in this situation was growing increasingly difficult and it was so frustrating and stressful. What were they going to do now? He thought he had figured out something, but Terry just brought up a really good point._ _

__It didn’t matter whom of them went down to chat with those guys. It would still have the same results. Penny and Snap were not going to trust either of them, for both different and similar reasons._ _

__So perhaps there was only one thing that they could do. And was to just...go through with this. Pick one of them and get done with it._ _

__“I think we’ve chatted long enough.” Terry spoke up, breaking the silence between them._ _

__Vinnie looked up at Terry, slightly surprised that she was able to speak with any air of confidence after her ‘downfall’ of sorts lately due to, well, things starting to fall apart. He had to admit, it was kind of...nice. That still didn’t stop him from frowning at Terry and saying, “Did you finally figure out what you’re going to do?”_ _

__Terry glared at him and this caused Vinnie to back up, watching her carefully. Her glare seemed to pierce through him. He kept his body frozen and waited for her to respond. It was like her eyes were cutting through his soul. It seemed to take forever before she said, “Why don’t we both talk to them?”_ _

__“But you said....” Vinnie started to say._ _

__Terry nodded her head slowly. “Indeed I did. But like you said...” She raised her hand up in gesture, a smile crawling along her face. “...we might be able to persuade them...”_ _

__Vinnie caught the tone of her voice and he immediately flinched. “Wouldn’t that upset Rudy?”_ _

__Terry’s eyes twinkled, and it started to look as though, all of a sudden, in the midst of this frustration and confusion, she was starting to get her spark back. “Who said that he had to know...?”_ _

__sss_ _

__“Rudy was what?!” Snap exclaimed, putting his hands to his mouth, his wide eyes staring at Penny in shock._ _

__“Shhh! Don’t speak so loudly!” Penny hissed under her breath. Her eyes shifted over to where Rudy was before looking back at Snap. “But yes, I do think that’s what happened.”_ _

__“But...” Snap stopped himself as he realized he was once again speaking too loudly. He took a few moments to collect himself and try to calm down as much as he could. But that was going to be so hard when he just..had no idea what ot think of this situation. It was...unprecedented. It was terrifying. It was... He stopped himself before he crowded his mind too much. “What are we going to do...?”_ _

__Penny shook her head slowly. She looked over at where Rudy was. “I just....don’t know...”_ _

__“We can’t just snap him out of it?” Snap ignored the pun there as he looked intently at Penny. He felt his heart break as he saw her still looking so hopeless._ _

__“That’s what Stockholm Syndrome is like, Snap. It’s....hard to break.” Penny whispered softly. “He’s completely convinced that they are his friends. From the looks of things, it seems that they did a thorough job of that.”_ _

__Snap didn’t say a word. His mind was too busy burning with many thoughts, his teeth grinding together. He couldn’t believe just what was happening. He couldn’t believe that this happened to his best friend. This fucking Stockholm Syndrome thing... It can go to fucking hell for all he cared. He just wanted his friend back. He wanted Rudy to go back to how he used to be._ _

__But that was just the thing. Rudy didn’t change that much. He seemed to still want to protect ChalkZone. He just....was now taking orders from Vinnie and Terry. Even though some of their control seemed to have started to waver, Rudy was still holding on strong. According to Penny, this was an unfortunately common thing with Stockholm Syndrome victims. They simply didn’t want to believe that they could have been tricked and fooled like that. And he could easily see why._ _

__It still hurt so much to see Rudy like this. He looked over at him, seeing how he was sitting alone, his head turned and arms folded. He hadn’t shown much interest in talking to them after their last conversation. There seemed to be many thoughts going through his mind right now, but it was difficult to say just what he was thinkin gof specifically._ _

__Snap did feel a pang of guilt. He probably pushed Rudy away a little too much earlier. He hadn’t meant to do that. He just.... It was so hard to see him acting in this kidn of manner. It was so hard to see Rudy not be the Rudy that he was used to. And it was especially hard to see him hanging out around people as terrible and conniving as Vinnie and Terry. That was probably what hurt the most._ _

__But right now, they needed to focus on how to get out of here. And then once they got out, they could take Rudy with and get him some help and.... It was going to be tough and he had a feeling that they weren’t going to succeed as well as they would like. But they had to try, right?_ _

__Snap felt a hand going on his shoulder. He thought it was Penny at first, but turning his head, he could see that it was Rapsheeba. His heart skipped a beat as he saw the way that she was looking at him. He could see all the pain that she had been through. He could see how Vinnie seemed to still reflect in her eyes and.... Snap bit his lip before he moved in closer and put his arms around Rapsheeba, trying to comfort her._ _

__As he held onto Rapsheeba, feeling her cuddle up against him, her breath hitting him, he looked over at Penny. He could see just how lost she was on all of this. Looking back at Rudy just reinforced this sense of desperation and uncertainty. They had quite the bumpy road ahead of them._ _

__But one thing was for certain._ _

__They were not going to back down so easily._ _

__sss_ _

__The young boy took in a deep breath and he let out a small sigh. He wasn’t really sure what to think of this situation, or of his friends. He didn’t like ignoring them like this, but he just...needed a little bit of time to think about this. He needed some time to try to figure out what he should do._ _

__Rudy glanced over sadly at his friends. They had fallen silent at this point after discussing....something quietly. He did feel some pang of hurt as he realized they were probably purposely keeping a secret from him. But at the same time, he couldn’t really blame them. He hadn’t given them much of a reason to talk to him, or any sort of reason for them to feel that it was good idea to let him hear them. He tried to shrug it off and convince himself that things would improve in time._ _

__But what if they didn’t? What if they would consistantly be angry with him? What if they didn’t want to speak ot him again? What if..._ _

__Okay, he needed to get a hold of himself. Penny, Snap, and Rapsheeba didn’t hate him. He needed to remind himself of that. They were just...disappointed, that was all. They were sad to see where he was right now and they didn’t understand everything, which stressed them out more. He couldn’t blame them for being wary of Vinnie and Terry. They hadn’t seen the side of them that he had. He knew that if they just stayed here a little while longer and tried to talk to them, they would see that...._ _

__But a part of Rudy wasn’t really sure of Vinnie and Terry, either. He was still reeling from his discovery earlier and he could feel a crack forming in that trust he had built up for them. He had been struggling to keep that crack from getting any bigger, telling himself that Vinnie and Terry had still helped him and that they couldn’t be that bad. Rudy tried to hold onto the hope that perhaps something could be done to ensure that they wouldn’t cause trouble again._ _

__That was part of the reason that he was still hanging onto hope, hanging onto the belief that they really were changing. Because if they were, and if they kept this up, then they wouldn’t need to fear for ChalkZone’s future, now would they?_ _

__Rudy let out a small exhale as he leaned up against the wall and continued to watch his friends in silence. He wasn’t really sure what to do at this point other than just be silent and continue to think about the current situation. And he had already done a lot of that. He looked up at the stairs and wondered when Terry was going to come back down. He wanted to know if there was anything else that he could do. Or did she still want him to just stand there?_ _

__Rudy shuddered momentarily as some bad memories began to come back to him. He cringed a little and he felt himself pushing up against the wall a little more firmly, his teeth grinding. He struggled to push back the bad memories as he focused on what was going on, in the present time._ _

__He tilted his head up and stared at the ceiling. It was still so hard for him to believe just where things had gone, the direction that it all took. He never would have guessed that, in such a short amount of time, this is where he was going to be headed. He found so...unbelievable. He wondered if everyone else was just as confused by this. He wondered if everyone was struggling as much he was about this whole thing. He gritted his teeth tightly before he forced himself to relax. He realized quickly just how much time he was wasting just standing here, having these random thoughts. He needed something more coherent. What if he..._ _

__“Oh Bucko....”_ _

__Rudy lifted up his head at this sudden speaking he heard from Snap. He quickly noticed the way that Snap was looking at him, his large white eyes staring intently at him, his arms still wrapped around Rapsheeba’s body. Rudy could detect the emotion that was showing through Snap’s eyes, despite them being nothing but white orbs._ _

__“How could you let them get to you...?” Snap whispered._ _

__At this, Penny immediately elbowed him a little and gave him a glare. Snap cringed and soon looked away, his voice dying in the process._ _

__Rudy narrowed his eyes very slightly, confusion taking a hold of him. He had to wonder just what were they talking about, and why was Penny so quick in silencing Snap. Where they trying to hide something from him? No, they couldn’t be... He didn’t want to think that they would..._ _

__...but then again, given the current circumstances...._ _

__Rudy lifted his head up when he heard footsteps coming down. He felt some wave of relief and uncertainty as he saw Terry and Vinnie coming down. And judging from their expressions, something was going on._ _

__“Terry...Vinnie..” Rudy spoke as he straightened himself. “H-Hello...”_ _

__The two adults stared at him for a few moments. He half expected them to say something, but they decided to remain silent, though he wasn’t sure why. He took a few steps back and watched them carefully, biting hs lip. He didn’t dare speak up; he waited to see just what they wanted._ _

__Vinnie and Terry were heading towards where his friends were being held. It was hard to tell just why they were doing this. Their expressions didn’t really hold any strong interest in speaking with them. But it was still pretty clear, from their expressions, that they wanted something with them, that there was something that was drawing them over there. Rudy didn’t really know what it was, and for the time being, he just remained silent just in case. He didn’t want to do anything to screw things up. He didn’t want to make things worse._ _

__But it was pretty uncomfortable, the whole watching and waiting thing. Rudy wasn’t really sure what to think of that, and he was less sure of what he was going to do or what they were going to do. He was still struck with confusion, and he was still unsure of some of these thoughts going through him. He still couldn’t figure out if he should be fearful of Terry or not. He could feel his body quaking and aching from this confusion._ _

__He was glad when Terry started to speak at last. It broke him out of his confusion. He shook his head up to try to clear whatever thoughts still remained. Then he turned adn watched Terry carefully and listened to see just what she wanted with them._ _

__“How have you three been doing?” Terry asked. Her voice sounded so sincere... Rudy wasn’t really sure why there was a lingering part of him who thought that this was raising red flags. “I see you have eaten well.”_ _

__“Bite me...” Snap growled._ _

__“Hey, we’re just trying to be friendly.” Vinnie stepped in, pointing a finger at Snap._ _

__Terry stopped him immediately, putting her hand out and halting the short man. “Now, now... No need to feel too upset. They have a right to be suspicous.” Terry looked down at the three, ignoring their glares as she tried to look as sympathetic as possible. “They just need a little time to adjust to everything. They don’t really know everything that has happened.”_ _

__Snap kicked at the cage. This startled Terry and caused her to jump back. “You kidnapped and brainwashed our friend, you asshole!”_ _

__Terry glared down at Snap for a moment and it almost looked like she was going to yell at him. But she quickly stopped herself and just smiled at him. “You must be stressed out from being locked up. Why else would you go around barking such silly nonsense?”_ _

__Vinnie nodded his head in agreement. “We saved Rudy when he broke his leg in the woods. If it hadn’t been for us, he wouldn’t be here.”_ _

__Rudy felt a bit of a tingle at this. That felt weird to think in his head, but it was true. He thought back to when he was wandering around for whatever reason. He couldn’t quite remember right now what he was doing or how he got lost. But he did remember waking up to the bad leg. He remembered the pain that he had to endure and he could feel his eyes almost water up at the memory. He bit his lip firmly as he glanced down at his leg. Although it had healed up quite nicely, he could still feel the echoes of pain surging through it at times, faintly or not._ _

__He could feel a warm sensation in his chest as he realized just how right Vinnie was. These two had taken care of him. This isn’t something that he forgot so easily. How could he? They had been with him, helping him out in his time of need even though they didn’t have to. That was something that he wished that his friends would understand. What would the point of all of that be, if they had to put in this much effort? It just didn’t make any sense._ _

__Terry and Vinnie had numerous chances to do something about him and they just...never did. They had to have done this for his own benefit. Maybe that time in jail caused Terry to change her ways. Armed with this knowledge, Rudy felt more reassured than ever, and he could feel his mind clearing up of its previous confusion._ _

__He quickly noticed Terry looking over at him. He straightened himself up as she approached, his head straining to meet her eyes. “Yes, Terry?”_ _

__Terry gave a small smile to him. “Rudy, would you be a dear and escort Rapsheeba out?”_ _

__Rudy blinked a few times at this. “What? Why?”_ _

__Terry replied, “I can understand your confusion. But we think she could use a bit of time out of the cage.” She noticed the look in Rudy’s eyes. “And don’t worry, we’ll give the others a chance as well. But they were cooped up in there for so long... Wouldn’t it just be fair to let them stretch their legs one at a time?”_ _

__“And why not at once?” That was Rudy’s next question._ _

__“Indeed true.” Terry acknowledged. “But do you think they will remain put? They might run about and try to ‘warn’ the zoners of the ‘threat’ coming, and that will complicate things. We had things arranged already to ensure everything works out.” Terry peered at him closely. “You wouldn’t want that to be sabotaged, do you?”_ _

__Rudy felt his heart clench at this. He shook his head. “N-No...”_ _

__“Good.” Terry motioned her head to the side. “Now go over and take Rapsheeba with you. Let her walk around ChalkZone a little, but make sure she doesn’t leave and make sure you don’t let her reveal anything, got it?”_ _

__Rudy nodded his head. “I understand.”_ _

__sss_ _

__“Hey, let us go! Release us right now, you fiends! Or we’ll...!” Snap shouted as he jerked his body about, trying whatever he could to get free. But in the end, Vinnie just ended up twisting his arm painfully._ _

__“Oh can it, you little twit!” Vinnie hissed in his ear, or rather, where it should be. “Consider yourself lucky that we still have a use for you.”_ _

__Terry replied in agreement. “That’s correct. Unless you wish to no longer be useful, I’d shut your trap if I were you.” Terry looked down at Snap, narrowing her eyes into slits. “Got it, you blue rodent?”_ _

__“I’m not a..!” Snap called out._ _

__Penny, not wanting to risk letting things get worse, quickly elbowed Snap in the side. He let out a yelp of pain and turned to glare at Penny. The girl was quick to raise her free arm and place her lips to her finger, shushing him. Snap just continued to frown at Penny before he reluctantly complied and went silent._ _

__It wasn’t that Penny thought that Snap was being unreasonable. Far from it, she thought that he had a good reason for behaving like this. They were prisoners of Terry and Vinnie, after all, and they had no idea just what they planned to do with him. They didn’t know if they were going to be gentle with them for Rudy’s sake or if they would try something else. It was a rather unpredictable situation and neither of them knew what was going to happen next. So no wonder Snap was on edge._ _

__But at the same time, squirming around like that was not going to end well for either of them. She just hoped that Snap would come to realize this and be able to control himself before he accidentaly made things worse for himself. They were both powerless here, as both adults could easily squash them if they wanted to. Vinnie could probably break her leg easily, a thought that made her shudder._ _

__It didn’t help that using 2D powers wasn’t an option. There was too much at risk with that move. These two may have planned for it, and the other issue is that there was still a lot of snow outside from a recent snow shower. Even if Snap or Raspheeba got out, there would be little place that they could go, and if they touched the snow, they were going to be in for one nasty, and horringly painful, surprise._ _

__So all that they could do right now was just....follow Vinnie and Terry as they dragged them, by their arms, up to another room. They were moving pretty fast, as though they wanted to get this done and over with before Rudy came back. If that is the case, then that did start to shed a little bit of light on things. But this revelation didn’t stay in her mind for too long as she suddenly found herself and Snap at the destination room at last._ _

__“Get in there!” Shouted Vinnie as he and Terry tossed the two inside the room. Snap and Penny barely got up to their feet when Terry moved in and shut the door. They turned around and glared back and Vinnie took a step forward. “I think it’s time that we had a word with both of you.”_ _

__Snap gritted his teeth. “You’ve had plenty of times to talk to us before.” He turned his head to the side as he glared at them with one eye. “Why the sudden change of heart?”_ _

__Vinnie shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “Why does it matter? At least now we’re going to talk to you.” He took another step forward. “And we suggest that you listen to what we have to say. And answer our questions accordingly.”_ _

__Penny trembled with emotion. “We’re not going to tell you anything, you bastards!”_ _

__Terry let out a small sigh and raised her hands up slowly. “Look, I know we have had a rough start.” Terry sounded like a broken record. Didn’t she already say that before? What made her think it would work again? Still, the woman moved in closer, her hands constantly moving as though she thought that they were going to attack at any moment. “We just want what’s best for everyone. We’ve already come this far and we can’t afford to back out now.”_ _

__Penny and Snap didn’t say anything. They just glared in disgust at her, their minds sifting through the time when Terry was hurting Rudy. They harbored far more hatred and anger towards this woman than they ever would for Vinnie. He was just a mindless drone in comparison to all of this. He wasn’t the one who told Terry to shoot Rudy. That was all on her._ _

__And the fact that she kept on trying to win their trust was just..digusting. Why would Terry even begin to think that they would want to listen to the likes of her? Why would they want to associate with such a disgusting woman? After all that she had done?_ _

__Yet Terry kept on trying._ _

__“Look, if you promise to help us by telling us what we know, we’ll....” Terry paused for a moment as she struggled to think of somethign. “We’ll let him return to his family.”_ _

__Penny’s eyes widened at this. It felt like something had snapped deep inside of her. She felt her teeth grinding together harder and she released a low growl. She felt her body trembling in emotion and she wasn’t able to stop herself from rushing to where Terry was. The red-haired woman was not able to respond quickly enough before Penny thrust her fist into her stomach. Terry immediately gasped and recoiled in pain, clutching her stomach._ _

__Penny glared into the startled woman’s eyes. “If you think for one minute that’s a good ‘deal’...” Penny seethed, struggling ot control her emotions. “Rudy should have been ‘returned’ to his family before you decided to brainwash him!”_ _

__Terry didn’t say a word. The woman simply stared at Penny, her eyes wide in shock. They were soon replaced with a frown and Penny waited for the horrible woman to take action against her. But it didn’t quite happen the way that she thought it would._ _

__“Hey!”_ _

__Penny looked over just in time to see Vinnie rushing at her. She could barley make out Snap’s cry of horror towards her as she was grabbed by Vinnie and smashed up against the wall. She released a loud grunt as she felt her back slamming against the hard surface behind her. Her feet dangled as Vinnie held her up by her throat._ _

__“What the fuck is wrong with you?! She didn’t do anything to you!” Vinnie put his face close to hers. “Do you know where you are?! You..”_ _

__“Vinnie, put her down.” Said a slightly weakened feminine voice behind him._ _

__“But Terry...” Vinnie started to say._ _

__“I mean it.” Terry growled lowly. “Let the little brat down to the ground.” She moved in closer, her eyes showing a whole array of emotions. She glared intently at Penny as she continued to go forward, yet she addressed Vinnie as she spoke. “I can’t blame her for attacking me. But I do think that there should be a form of punish for that. One that doesn’t involve trying to break her neck.”_ _

__Vinnie growled softly but did as he was told. Giving Penny a small smirk, he took a step back to allow Terry to get in closer. Penny glared from him and then to Terry. A small part of her could feel her heart skipping a bit, but regardless, she managed to keep holding still and just bare her teeth at the human coming in towards her._ _

__Terry’s eyes didn’t leave hers as she soon came to stand right in front of Penny, using her height advantage to try to assert some kind of dominance over her. Penny grabbed onto Snap and the two hugged each other. But they dare not show any actual fear towards this insane woman. She wasn’t going to get the better of them that easily._ _

__“I wish you two would just....try to see some reason.” Terry said, letting out a small sigh. “But Vinnie and I knew that you were going to resist. And since you have given us oh so such a great reason...” Terry’s eyes soon shifted to Snap. “I think we have an idea on how to make you two talk.”_ _

__Penny felt her eyes widen in horror at this. She didn’t like the implications that the woman was giving in that statement. She tried to rush forward, tried to knock into Terry, but she just wasn’t quick enough. Before she could do anything, Snap was grabbed and yanked from her, now being held in Vinnie’s arms._ _

__“Wait! Let him go!” Penny called out in horror, reaching her hand out._ _

__Vinnie grinned as he watched Penny, his arms tightly holding her friend against him. “So now you get to see the consequences of your actions.”_ _

__Before Penny could say anything, Terry stepped in, raising a finger. “I would be careful of what you decide to do, Penny. You wouldn’t want your friend getting hurt, do you?”_ _

__Penny felt her blood freezing at this. It suddenly fully dawned on her just what these two evil humans had in mind. She watched them with wide eyes and she shook her head desperately. “Please, you can’t....” She could feel a rush of emotion, stronger than it’s ever been before, with the only other time being when she had seen Rudy getting shot._ _

__Terry just glared at her. “Then tell us what we want to know....”_ _

__Penny froze, unsure of what to do._ _

__sss_ _

__“Give me one good reason why I should do anything for you.”_ _

__

__

__“That is true... But would I want such a thing from you? I’ve heard about what you are and what you can do. How do I know that you aren’t going to backstab me in the end?”_ _

__

__“Flattering. But you still haven’t given me much of a reason to help you. >_ _

__

__Skrawl cocked his eyebrow at this. He had little reason to believe that these red chalk zoners were speaking the truth. He couldn’t help but continue a great deal of skepticism towards them, and it was difficult for him to hide that fact from his facial features. And no doubt, this was going to trigger these two to try to keep finding ways to get him to work for them._ _

__But Skrawl wasn’t some kind of an idiot. He knew how these zoners worked. He knew how the red chalk worked. He had heard stories mostly horrific ones, from zoners that had been subjected to the torment of the red chalk zoners, and the red chalk in general. While Skrawl wasn’t really above tormenting zoners himself, it did still raise a lot of red flags inside of him. Why should he trust whatever these guys had to say?_ _

__But it seemed like they weren’t going to give up so easily. Not really much of a surprise. They were a pretty determined bunch, he would give them that much. But still, if they wanted him to work for them, they would need to actually give him a good reason to trust them. And chances are, they won’t. Skrawl was too clever for these idiots._ _

__But of course... he could always turn things around. Maybe he could trick these zoners instead. Maybe he could get them to do something that he wanted. The thought brought a mental smile inside of his skull. If he could figure out what to say..._ _

__The red chicken spoke up, cutting him from his thoughts. Skrawl tried not to grumble too much as he looked up at the large red zoner before him._ _

__Skrawl tapped his chin thoughtfully. “How so?”_ _

__The window zoner spoke._ _

__Skrawl felt a red flag raising at this. He had heard this kind of speech before. It was the same kind that he himself would use if he wanted to lure someone to his side. It was an invitation to belong somewhere, and many people like to belong. They were purposely trying to appease to him by bringing up his own difficulties and hoped that he would fall for it._ _

__Well unfortunately for them, he wasn’t that stupid. As a villain, he was aware of this kind of trick and he knew how to circumvent it. All that would happen if he joined is that they were going to try to do....something to him afterwards. They would make him do the work and then they would just drop him off as if he were nothing. If he were to try to ‘join them’, he would need to make sure that he remained cautious of their little tricks._ _

__But exactly how was he going to do that? He hadn’t really thought that far ahead yet and he was going to need more time. He had his doubts that these red chalk zoners were going to just let him walk away. If he understood their mindset well enough, they were probably going to try to kill him if he dare try to leave. They wouldn’t want him roaming about, potentially telling others of what they were doing._ _

__So he had to improvise._ _

__“Okay... So if I were to help you out...” Skrawl started to say. He spoke pretty slowly, keeping his eyes focused on them, one eyebrow raising up. “What do I get out of it? And exactly how can I help?”_ _

__The red window zoner said._ _

__The red chicken intervened, its voice almost booming inside of Skrawl’s head._ _

__“Perhaps...” Skrawl said slowly._ _

__The red chicken raised its head up a little, its eyes staring down at him. Skrawl stared up at it, eyes blinking._ _

__Skrawl wasn’t sure how to respond. He didn’t really have any idea on where Rudy Tabootie could be. That chalk boy could be anywhere in the Real World. If something had happened, he didn’t really know about it. He just knew that he was just...suddenly not in ChalkZone anymore._ _

__And yet it would seem that these guys believed that he did know more. They thought that he was the key to finding Rudy. He would never understand why Biclops thought it was a good idea to send these idiots out to find Rudy, but oh well. It was his loss, and his own opportunity. Skrawl could feel himself start to smirk at this._ _

__Okay so he had a chance to rise up and take control. He figured out how he was going to do it. If these guys wanted his help, then he would be glad to give it to them._ _

__But they would have to do something for him first._ _

__sss_ _

__“R-Rudy! Let me go... please!” Rapsheeba pleaded, her feet hitting the ground painfully as she tried to keep up. “It doesn’t have to be...”_ _

__Rudy paused and turned and glared at her. “You heard what they said. Keep it down! We’re just here for a little walk so you can clear your mind.” He paused for a moment, breathing heavily as he stared into Rapsheeba’s confused and terrified eyed. He softened his voice and looked away and said, “Look, I didn’t mean to be rough with you. But you’ve gotta trust me, okay? Please just...listen.”_ _

__Rapsheeba could feel a pang in her stomach. Horror continued to course through her blood as she watched the boy, feeling him continue to take her on her ‘walk’ in ChalkZone. An unfortunately pretty deserted area. There wasn’t much around, not even another zoner whom she could call attention to._ _

__But even if there were, what would happen if she did try? Would Rudy try to..hurt her...? She swallowed hard, feeling herself shudder quickly at this as she tried to shake off the dreadful feeling in her chest and stomach. She remembered what Penny had said about Rudy. Even if she or Snap didn’t say a word, it was all too obvious that something was wrong with Rudy. The Rudy that she knew would never associate himself with those creeps. He would resist them, fight back, try to protect ChalkZone...._ _

__But now it seemed like that part of him had faded away, replaced by some kind of a...a...stranger.... One that she didn’t wish to know. One that she wished would just go away._ _

__And what was this because of again? Penny mentioned something about Stockholm Syndrome. Is that what had a control of Rudy? Was he really brainwashed. He certainly acted like it. He was not moving or acting like himself. And only through brainwashing would he think that Terry and Vinnie were allies. Did he forget what Terry had done to him? Did he not know what Vinnie had done to...her...?_ _

__Rapsheeba bit her lip firmly as her mind spun around in circles. This was going to be a tough case to crack. She had no idea how they were going to convince Rudy of what happened. He had apparently been taken care of by those two. They mended his broken leg and treated him and they were apparently really gentle with him. To some people, it might have looked like they were being genuinely nice to him. But Rapsheeba could see it for what it really was. They were manipulating Rudy, toying with his emotions so that he would feel safe around them._ _

__And because they helped him, because he felt safe, Rudy had little reason to doubt what they told him. Even if he did waver a little, his emotions had a hold over him, and those feelings prevented him from going all out against him. The only way to break it was to get Rudy to see them doing something terrible to his friends, or to him._ _

__But what would the psychological effects of that be...?_ _

__Rapsheeba frowned as she realized just how difficult it was going to be. If Rudy felt as though his trust had been broken by two people he thought he could believe in, would he in turn start to question his freal friends? His family?_ _

__Things had gotten more complicated._ _

__“I know you’re scared.”_ _

__Rapsheeba looked up, her eyes staring at Rudy as they continued their short walk through the forested area. She could see that he wasn’t looking directly at her, but his voice was obviously directing his statements to her._ _

__“But there’s no reason to be scared.” Rudy’s voice tried to take on a comforting tone. It didn’t really work for Rapsheeba. “If you would take the time to get to know Vinnie and Terry, then...”_ _

__Rapsheeba growled at this and yanked her arm back. Rudy looked at her, startled. He tried to reach his hand out towards her, but Rapsheeba moved back from him. “How dare you... Y-You think I would want to get to know them?” Rapsheeba panted heavily as her mouth hung open. “Vinnie is the one who..!” She stopped herself, lowering her head as her voice slowly faded. “H-He’s the one...who...” She was not able to speak anymore as she fell onto her knees._ _

__Rudy stared at her, his eyes furrowed in sympathy. He began to move in closer, reaching his hands out towards her. “Rapsheeba, I’m so sorry I upset you. I...” He touched her on her shoulders gently. “Here, let me...”_ _

__Rapsheeba could feel a surge of emotions rushing through her. She couldn’t control herself in this state. She had no idea how it happened. But before she could stop herself, she started to bolt away from Rudy._ _

__“Rapsheeba! Come back! You can’t...!”_ _

__Rudy’s voice faded as Rapsheeba gained distance from him. She didn’t stop. She didn’t turn around to see what was behind her. She just kept going as quickly as she could, her feet pounding the ground heavily, her heart racing against her chest. The same question repeated in her head over and over again._ _

__What was she going to do now..?_ _

__sss_ _

__Snap let out a yelp as he squirmed desperately on the ground. He could feel Vinnie’s hand twisting his arm behind his back. He tried to pull it back, but the man’s grip was too hard and tight on his wrist. And the option to go 2D was not available right now. Not when he was too locked in fear and shock to do anything. And even if he did try..._ _

__What would Terry do to Penny...?_ _

__The blue and white zoner growled, nearly biting his tongue, as he stared out at where Penny was. The girl was still beind held by Terry, who stood behind her, keeping the girl’s arms behind her back. Penny had already tried to escape this awful woman’s grasp, but like him with Vinnie, she found it impossible. Penny had already given up, her head hanging low in defeat. The sight of this twisted Snap’s heart and he returned to try to glare at Vinnie._ _

__“Let me go, you creepazoid!” Snap didn’t care if he sounded like a broken record at this point. He wasn’t going to just give up like that. He continued to try to squirm around underneath the man’s weight as he shouted, “I mean it! I’m going to bite off your fingers if you...”_ _

__“And risk burning your tongue? That’s rather dark for you, isn’t it?” Taunted Vinnie, his mouth curled into a grin._ _

__Snap let out a small gasp at this before narrowing his eyes and growling lowly._ _

__“There isn’t really a reason to get upset, Snap.” The white zoner turned to glare in the direction of Terry, seething through his clenched teeth. Terry just smiled at him. “We don’t really want much. We just want to know how you zoners breed. Do you all just wait to have more of you drawn or...” She tilted her head to the side. “..or are you capable of...making more of your own...?”_ _

__Snap could feel his face burn at such a terrible question. It was so invasive and so... Gah, it wasn’t any of her fucking business. She had no right to be asking him something like that. That fucking witch... Wait until he got his hands on her...._ _

__“We are not fucking animals for you to breed in your stupid exhibits!” Snap screamed, ignoring the slight pain in his throat as he did so. “Why don’t you just...jump off a cliff or something!”_ _

__Terry put her hand to her mouth and let out an obviously fake, mocking gasp. “Why Snap... How can you say that..?” She motioned her hand out towards him. Her wide eyes soon narrowed a little. “After all that we had done for your friend, I thought you would be a little more grateful...”_ _

__Snap was about to reply, but Penny beat him to the punch. “You brainwashed him! You’re using him like a toy! Have you no shame?!”_ _

__“We should ask the same thing of you.” Vinnie hissed under his breath. “We’re trying to be nice here, but you keep trying to...”_ _

__Terry raised her hand up, silencing the man. He let out a low grumble, but he did soon shut his mouth. Terry turned to stare at Penny and Snap, her eyes narrowing slowly. “I see that you little brats aren’t going to listen to reason. I had hoped that we wouldn’t have to do this, but...” She pushed Penny against the wall firmly. “You left us with no other choice.”_ _

__Snap’s eyes widened. “Penny!”_ _

__Terry’s hands and arms slunked around Penny in a way that caused her neck to be jerked back. She let out a gurgled gasp as she clutched onto Terry’s arms with her hands. She clawed at them in desperation, trying to yank them down. Terry’s eye twitched and she growled a little at this. But she nonetheless managed to remain put, tightening her grip and making Penny’s fingers flex in agitation._ _

__“Tell us what we want to know, zoner...” Terry began to twist Penny’s neck. “Or I will break her scrawny neck...”_ _

__Vinnie’s eyes widened and he seemed to cringe a little. “Terry, are you sure that this is...” A quick glare from Terry caused the short man to close his mouth and go quiet._ _

__Snap watched the scene before him in horror. He tried to struggle to get free. But with a wave of the hand from Terry, Vinnie pressed him further against the ground, holding him there and forcing him to watch this. As each second rolled by, Terry seemed to twist Penny’s head further. Her eyes bulged wide open and she scrambled about on the ground. Soon she stared at Snap and he flinched at the emotions going through her face._ _

__Oh gawd... What should he do..? He didn’t want to give these fiends the information. But Penny... He..._ _

__“Tell me!” Terry shouted as she pushed down harder on Penny’s neck._ _

__“Gaaah!” Penny cried out in pain._ _

__Snap held his hand out towards his friend. “Penny! No!”_ _

__Terry glared at him. “Tell me the truth, zoner, or...” Her voice trailed off. She made her point by twisting Penny’s head further. There was a crick sound and another scream from Penny. Surely her neck was close to breaking now._ _

__Snap felt his mind race with many thoughts. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He could feel his mind spinning. He could feel his breathing increasing. He couldn’t stop staring at the horrible sight before him and he could feel tears running down his face._ _

__What was he going to do...? He couldn’t just... But if Penny... What would Rudy... Snap shut his eyes tighlty and felt tears streaming down them. He realized that there was only one option._ _

__“A-A-Alright! I’ll talk! Just l-l-let her go..please...” Snap called out, his head lowering in submission._ _

__Terry grinned at this as she released Penny. “That’s a good little zoner...”_ _

__“No... Snap... You don’t have to...” Penny started to say._ _

__Terry growled at her and shouted, “Shut your mouth!” She pushed Penny’s face against the ground hard, making her yelp in pain. Penny spluttered and coughed painfully and glared up at Terry. The woman’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I think you don’t understand your place here...”_ _

__Penny just hissed at her before looking back at Snap. “D-Don’t let her intimidate you, Snap! She’s just a big bully! She can’t...”_ _

__Terry twisted her neck even further, making her gag. Snap’s heart skipped a beat as he was forced to watch this. He squirmed about as he tried to get over at Penny. But there was nothing that he could do to stop Terry from doing this. With one more yank, Penny’s whole body shuddered and it looked like she had collapsed. Snap feared the worst until he realized that Penny had not been damaged badly; she had just given in._ _

__But that was hard to watch as well. Seeing Penny shutting her eyes and whimpering softly, unable to keep taking the pain... She looked up at Terry, her eyes almost pleading. The red-haired woman showed her no sympathy. She just glared at her, silently warning her not to try something like that again. Penny just lowered her head in submission._ _

__It was hard seeing Penny surrender like this, but Snap could understand why she would. Terry had twisted her neck pretty badly and it looked like she was fully capable of breaking it. No doubt Terry would have found some convincing lie to tell Rudy and he would think it was an accident somehow. Penny’s neck must be hurting her so much... Snap could feel his heart stinging as he thought about that pain that his friend had gone through. It made him all the more angry at Terry, but as much as he wanted to chew her out...._ _

__No, he had to remain silent about that. For Penny’s sake... He instead just glared back at Terry, his body shaking, the fear probably quite transparent on his face. He ignored Vinnie’s snickering as Terry shifted her focus back to him._ _

__“Now where were we...?” Terry asked in an innocent tone, pretending to ponder what to say. “Oh yes, I remember now...” Terry’s smile spread along her face as she stared intently at Snap. “You’re going to answer some questions for us. Refuse to answer one, and I will... ‘improve’ my treatment with your friend.”_ _

__Snap’s eyes widened in horror. He wanted to say something in protest, but he realized that this wasn’t an option. So he just hung his head a little, baring his teeth to try to act tough. But in the end, he was fucking terrified. He knew there was no way out of this. He would be forced to answer such dreadful questions. And if he refused to answer them..._ _

__Terry stared at him intently for a few long seconds before she finally spoke. “First, tell me how you....”_ _

__sss_ _

__The idea was too horrible to comprehend. She didn’t want to think that it was possible. She didn’t want to believe that.... But Terry escaped... She remembered the news.. And it happened not too long before Rudy had disappeared..._ _

__Could this be what had happened? No, she didn’t want to believe it. She wanted to think that something else happened. Even Rudy getting lost somewhere in the woods was preferable to this. Terry had done so many terrible things to her son. To think that she got him again...._ _

__Mrs. Tabootie tried her best not to cry. She tried to keep herself as composed as possible. But that was getting increasingly difficult to do. She took in several deep breaths, her mind constantly spinning around. She looked left and right, her teeth becoming gritted, her thick legs wobbling. She could feel her mind coming alive with flashes of horrifying memories._ _

__Terry had kidnapped her son years ago. She had placed a tracker in his neck. She had tormented him mentally, making him so terrified to do anything against her will. She controlled him utterly, did terrible, awful things to him. When she was rightfully arrested, she cried foul and tried to take her son down._ _

__She still remembered that horrible day. She played it over and over again in her mind involuntarily. She could see the bullet making impact against Rudy’s chest. She remembered his scream of pain, the blood that squirted everywhere. Oh gawd, there was so much blood... She tried to soothe him, but she could tell that she was rapidly losing him. And when he had closed his eyes, she thought for a moment that was going to be the last time she would ever see him again._ _

__Rudy turned out to be alive, but he had suffered permanent damage to his heart. He needed surgery to place in a pacemaker in order to survive. This caused some hinderance to his performance, and doing something too strenuous could make his heart act up. He was so young..._ _

__She formed a tight fist with her hand. This was all Terry’s fault. That nasty, wretched woman... And now she had gotten her son again..._ _

__“I know that I have no proof of this.” Mrs. Sanchez’s voice sliced through her head, humming around in her thoughts. Mrs. Tabootie had to shake her head once or twice to clear those thoughts so she could listen more unimposed to Mrs. Sanchez’s words. “But it would make a lot of sense...”_ _

__Mrs. Tabootie didn’t like the idea of agreeing with Mrs. Sanchez, or anyone, on this. While she did want to know where her son was, this was something that she just... She let out a shaky sigh and said, “Yeah I know. It makes....too much sense...” Mrs. Tabootie turned her head to the side. “She had escaped from prison if I recall and it was too close to when Rudy disappeared. While it could be a coincidence, I...” She shook her head slowly. “I just can’t bring myself to believe that.”_ _

__“Me neither. It just sounds so dreadful...” Mrs. Sanchez said sadly. “But... It.. I know I sound like a broken record, but it really does make a lot of sense when you really think about it.”_ _

__“But even if she did take Rudy... We still don’t know where he is.” Mrs. Tabootie felt her heart sink as she made this realization. Even though they have a better idea on where Rudy could be that didn’t mean that they were any closer to finding him. They could be catapulted right back to the start really easily. They had no proof that Terry was even involved in this. Far as anyone else knew, she was clean. “Blast it....”_ _

__Mrs. Sanchez could sense who she was feeling. Mrs. Tabootie didn’t struggle as she felt the woman move her arms around her and pull her into a tight hug. Mrs. Tabootie just shut her eyes in response, her emotions swirling about inside of her._ _

__“Whatever happens, we will find them.” Mrs. Sanchez said, trying to sound comforting. “If Terry took our children, I swear, I won’t rest until she is back behind bars where she belongs.”_ _

__Mrs. Tabootie could only nod her head. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything. But she knew that Mrs. Sanchez was right. Terry would go back to jail. And this time, she wasn’t getting out that easily. Who would want to let her go after what she had done? Hurting her son like that.. Then kidnapping him again along with another innocent child... There was no court in this country that would be lenient on a dreadful woman like that. It was the only comfort she could give herself._ _

__But in the end, they were still stumped as to where to find them. Terry wouldn’t pick a location that was easy to get to or easy to figure out. How were they going to..._ _

__Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door slamming open. She and Mrs. Sanchez jolted a little as they turned to see who it was._ _

__“Joe?!” Mrs. Tabootie cried. “What’s going on?!”_ _

__Her husband looked like he had seen a ghost. His eyes were wide and he was just absolutely stunned by something. Though what exactly, it was hard to tell. He rushed towards the two women, panting._ _

__“Someone’s found something!” He shouted excitedly and anxiously._ _

__Mrs. Sanchez and Mrs. Tabootie just stared at one another, unsure of what to make of this. They both looked back at Mr. Tabootie, waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t, Mrs. Tabootie made a quick motion with her hand. “What did they find?”_ _

__“Well the details are a bit fuzzy, but apparently someone who was wandering through that forest that Rudy was in a few months ago found that there was a lodge there still in use.”_ _

__“Oh... what does that have to do with...”_ _

__“The lodge isn’t supposed to be rented right now.”_ _

__Mrs. Tabootie froze at this as she stared at her husband long and hard, her mind slowly registering what he had just said. At first, she wanted to kind of just shrug her shoulders and ask why that mattered. At first, she wasn’t really sure still why it was significant._ _

__But the more that she thought about it, the more that it began to weigh down heavily upon her mind and she couldn’t help but draw in a slow yet sharp gasp. A confusing mix that matched her conflicting emotions. She stared into her husband’s eyes and she could see the emotions that rang through his head, becoming apparent on his face, almost glowing._ _

__The lodge wasn’t supposed to be rented.... She let that phrase repeat itself over and over again in her head, her widened eyes looking towards the ground. She inhaled and exhaled rapidly, struggling to cope as her mind sifted through several thoughts, an energy of sorts ringing through her veins._ _

__If the lodge were not supposed to be rented, but someone was using it, then something was clearly wrong. Was it someone just deciding to steal it and use it for themselves? Possible. It was also likely that someone was hurt and needed to use it._ _

__But another thought swelled in her head that she couldn’t push away._ _

__What if someone were hiding out in it?_ _

__Mrs. Tabootie looked at Mrs. Sanchez, who looked just as startled as her. Was she thinking the same thing as her? Did Joe have the same conclusions that she had come up with? Of course he would have. Why else would he have brought this up at all if he didn’t think that this could lead somewhere? She stared over at Joe some more, wondering just... what were the odds of him to find something like this out? What were the odds that anyone would have? It was just..._ _

__But she knew that there was someone who would want to use this lodge. There was someone who would have every reason to use such a place without permission. The thought made her blood burn up inside and she hated to consider this thought. But it made way too much sense._ _

__Terry Bouffant._ _

__It was such a perfect location. Out of the way. Away from civilization. In the middle of nowhere. And using a lodge that wasn’t supposed to be used, that would mean that her name was likely not on the list. So it was no wonder that the lodge folk didn’t report this._ _

__A rush of thoughts ran through the large woman’s head. She could feel excitement start to spread throughout her body. They had finally found something useful. They had finally figured out something that just might help them find Rudy and Penny. They were finally close to some kind of an answer._ _

__With her eyes narrowed, Mrs. Tabootie said lowly, “Let’s go pay that lodge place a visit.”_ _

__She needn’t say anything further to convince them._ _


	2. Part 2

“There...are you happy now...?” Snap growled under his breath. He was trembling hard and looked rather disgusted with what he said. His fists were shaking at his sides and his eyes looked darkened and teary.

But Terry didn’t care. She was too busy smiling. She had gotten what she had some for. And that’s all that mattered right now. “Yes, that’s good. I’m glad that you finally came to your senses, Snap. That’s exactly the information that we needed.” Terry waved her hand dismissively. “Vinnie, take them back to their cage. I’ll figure out what to do with them later.”

Vinnie nodded his head. He grabbed onto Penny and Snap’s arms roughly and yanked them forward. “Come along, you two!” As he dragged them towards the door, he glared at both of them and hissed, “And not a word of this to Rudy, do you understand?”

The two didn’t respond. Though that was of no surprise. Terry was hardly concerned as Vinnie dragged the two out of the door and were dragged down the hallway. Terry remained behind as her mind sifted through the information she had just recieved. It would take a little while to sort through them all. But it was going to be worth it in the end. They were one step closer to achieving their goal. Now that she had the information regarding zoner breeding, she and Vinnie could begin work on establishing something so that the zoners weren’t in danger of accidentally being wiped out.

It was a pretty simple thing. Well not simple, but was not too much different from, say, captive breeding programs, she would imagine. She was a little surprised to learn that zoners could have children of their own. She had thought, and partly expected, Snap to say that it wasn’t possible, which would have led to the easier solution of just drawing zoners. And while that was still an option, she thought it at would be a bit more secure doing it this way. Why, she couldn’t really explain it. It just...felt like the best course of action. The one that Rudy would be more satisfied with.

Hmm, or would he? He might think that it was a bit low, or maybe he would agree with it. Perhaps she should run the idea by him to be sure. She flinched when she realized she was still thinking of him a little too much, but then again, cooperating with him like this was yielding more results. And it wasn’t like she could keep that fever in him forever. It was getting in the way.

It shouldn’t be too difficult to set something up. Heck, even combining the breeding with a select number of artists to create more zoners could help out even more. And then if she could work something out to lessen damage to that world and to its citizens, Rudy would be even less likely to turn against her and Vinnie, even if he did start to resist the Stockholm Syndrome thing.

What could be other ways to handle it? Well, another thought that she had was putting a restriction on who could use the magic chalk. It might seem a little extreme, but it was really important. She had taken Rudy’s words to heart, and she did have to agree with the little child. Having the wrong person use the magic chalk would be distastrous. She didn’t want to think of all of the trouble that would be caused from that. So a restriction would be required. But how to control it...

She narrowed her eyes a little. Maybe she should consult with Rudy again. He knew that world better than her. Maybe he would have an idea on how to restrict magic chalk usage and minimize possible damage. There would have to be some way, correct? And once she figured it out...

This was requiring a lot more work than she had anticipated. But it was certainly better than how things were before, when she could barely get a foot into that world. Now she and Vinnie could technically go in at any time. Yet this time, they were being careful. Preparing, so that they would be more able to do this task. To expose ChalkZone and make money while at the same time, keeping Rudy satisfied enough to ensure that he didn’t try to stop them. It would be a win/win situation for them all.

And yet there was still a part of her that wanted revenge against Rudy. There was still something in the back of her mind that scolded her, tried to get her to go after Rudy, try to finish what she started. She remembered how good it felt when she dominated Rudy, how he had feared her....

But she quickly shook that thought out of her head. This was the best kind of revenge, she thought. Having Rudy in her control, making him go along with her plan, and getting what she wanted out of ChalkZone. Even if it didn’t involve terrifying the child, she still ended up winning in the end. And wasn’t that more important?

Well now that she had something sort of figured out, now she needed to know just how to proceed. What should be the first thing to be taken care of? Perhaps speaking with Rudy? That sounded like a good idea. He should be coming back soon from the walk. Looking back, it did sound like a kind of lame thing to send him in. But oh well, it had worked well enough, and it kept him far away enough to ensure that he wouldn’t hear anything that she and Vinnie were doing.

She wasn’t too worried about them telling Rudy what they did. In his state, he wouldn’t believe them. This left her and Vinnie ultimately free to do what was necessary. She began to head down the hallway, going towards the basement where she knew Rudy would be waiting for her.

It didn’t take her long to reach the basement. A little faster than she would have expected. Not that it was a bad thing. If anything, it was rather exciting. Getting closer to her goal, getting closer to the next step... She couldn’t help but smile softly. Everything was falling well into place. If they could just keep this up...

She tried to clear her mind the best that she could. It wasn’t going to do well for her if she kept getting too worked up over this. She might end up jinxing herself accidentally. So she shook her head once and got those thoughts out of her mind. She then made her way down the steps slowly, wanting to be as silent as possible. She didn’t want to announce her presence yet. She wanted to listen to see if Rudy had returned.

She stood in the middle of the stair well, still high enough that no one below could tell that she was there. She pressed herself against the cool, hard wall, and listened carefully to what was being said below.

“Stop this! You have to let us go!”

“Get back in your cage!”

“You creepazoid!”

Terry let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. So far, it was just a bit of bickering between the prisoners and Vinnie. Not really too surprising, and not what she was hoping to hear. She remained silent and continued to listen for anything else. But other than a few shouts and stomps and slams and grunts, she didn’t hear much else. She felt herself grit her teeth tightly. What was taking Rudy so long to get back?

She took in a deep breath and sighed. She had to understand that it hadn’t been that long and Rudy always came back. Maybe Rapsheeba was giving him a little bit of a hard time. Well that shouldn’t be too much of a hassle for Rudy, right? He just needed to use the magic chalk to make sure that she stayed silent. Simple, and easy to....

But what if....

Terry narrowed her eyes. If things got too bad, there was still one other option that could be done. It wasn’t ideal and she didn’t like it that much. But it would be something at least. After all, if Rapsheeba did cause too much of an issue, Rudy could....deal with her and pretend that it was an accident. It was still highly risky and she knew the dangers of what could happen if it was botched up. But still, it would still be better than letting that zoner run around freely and warn other zoners about what was going to happen.

“Terry? Is that you?”

The woman jerked a little when he noticed someone staring up the stair well towards here, his eyes squinting. Terry grumbled softly, scolding herself for not paying enough attention. She called out to Vinnie, “Yeah, I’m here. I wanted to check on how things were going.”

“They went okay, I suppose.” Vinnie said in an annoyed voice. “Though those little brats gave me quite the fight.”

Terry moved down the stair case slowly. She watched Vinnie moving back a little, his hands rubbing together, almost as though to wash off the fact that he had to deal with those brats. And turning her head, she could see Penny and Snap glaring back, both of them trembling, worked up to the point of attack. Perhaps it was a good thing that they were locked up like this.

She soon turned her head away and stared at where she recalled Rudy ran off to with Rapsheeba. She frowned as she noticed that he still wasn’t back. No signs of him showing up. She did try her best to remain calm and not jump to conclusions too easily. If worse comes to worse, she or Vinnie could go after him. But that was a huge risk that she was hoping to avoid. If she and Vinnie set foot in that world, the zoners might freak out. This was one of the reasons she ultimately decided it was best to keep Rudy around. The less of a fight, the better.

She turned her attention back to Vinnie. “Any sign of Rudy?” She wasn’t really sure why she was asking. She already knew the answer.

She was not surprised when she saw Vinnie shrugging his shoulders and saying, “I heard nothing.”

Terry narrowed her eyes slightly at this, but ultimately just nodded her head. She couldn’t really fault Vinnie on that answer. There wasn’t really much of a reason to get upset. Rudy hadn’t been gone too long and it was too early to tell if anything was happening. She turned her head and once more focused in that direction. She had enough trust in the boy to return to her with the zoner in hand. But perhaps in the future, they would need to try something else...

But chatting with Vinnie about that would have to wait until another time. It would be best if one of them waited here for Rudy just to make sure that everything ran smoothly. Then perhaps at night, she could talk with him, when Rudy would be sleeping on the couch. They could try the bedroom and shut the door and speak with very low voices. This would make it difficult for Rudy to accidentally overhear. Yeah, that could work.

With that thought in mind, Terry began to relax a little. Sure it meant potentially delaying things again, but it was still better than risking blowing everything, right? She just...

Terry began to rub her head, feeling something of a... It was hard to explain, but she was getting a little... off. Probably from the stress of all of the confusion and deciding what needed to be done. It might be best if she went back upstairs and got something to drink or something. Maybe it was best if they held off on doing anything else until tomorrow. That sounded like a good idea. Maybe a good night’s rest would help her clear her mind again and she could better concentrate.

Turning her head to Vinnie, she said, “I’m going upstairs. Wait here for Rudy. Let me know when he’s back.”

Vinnie nodded his head. “Is there anything you want me to tell him? Do you want him to come up and see you?”

Terry shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. You could tell him I would like to speak to him tomorrow, though. After we’ve all got a nice rest. Today was an eventful day.” She turned her head and stared at Penny and Snap. She gave a small smile and said, “And we have gotten some quite the information out of our guests here.” She ignored Penny and Snap’s growls. “Let’s make sure we put that to good use.”

“Got it.” Vinnie leaned against the nearby wall and folded his arms. He looked sort of disinterested, but his eyes remained open and he knew better than to try to fall asleep on the job. “I’ll let him know as soon as I see him.” He looked ready to settle down until something else got on his mind. “But what about...”

Immediately knowing what he was going to say, Terry spoke up, “Don’t worry about those two. They’re not going anywhere.” Terry smirked at the two children. “Rudy won’t believe anything they say, either. So we have nothing to worry about with Rudy turning against us.”

“You’re going to pay for using Rudy like this! You hear us?! We’ll make you pay for this!”

“Yeah! Just you wait! Once Rudy finds out what you’re doing...!”

Terry cocked an eyebrow. “That all depends on if he believes you...and it’s apparent that he does not. Because he trusts us now.” Terry took a step forward and leaned in towards the cage, staring intently at Penny and Snap. But if you two want an incentive...”

Terry paused for a moment, sensing everyone staring at her. There was something that she had up her sleeve that she had forgotten about. She had used it against Rudy and it had done wonders. It was this particular statement that finally made him cave in and give her what she wanted during her first attempt in controlling him. Perhaps the same thing could be used to make Penny and Snap less willing to try to break their friend out of this ‘trance’, as they woud put it.

“I know something quite...interesting about you... or rather, about your mother, Penny Sanchez.” Terry’s voice was soft yet firm as she stared at the little girl before her. She noticed the way her expression changed, as though she was realizing what was being said. Terry smirked. Good, this should make things go a little smoother. “There’s a number of things I could say about your mom, but one in particular, well...” She chortled softly. “It wouldn’t be all that pleasant.”

Snap looked at Penny in confusion. Penny herself was looking at Terry and her body was shaking. It was hard to say if she knew what she was talking about or not, but there was still a spark of familiarity in her eyes. Perhaps Rudy had blabbed something to her?

Penny shook her head slowly. “Y-You can’t prove anything! My mom didn’t....!”

Terry pulled her head back slowly, sneering broadly. “Do you really think that your mom told you everything?” Penny couldn’t respond to this. Terry tilted her head to the side. “You don’t think that she would protect you from some uncomfortable truths?”

“What are you saying?” Snap hissed, moving closer to Penny protectively. “Where are you getting at?”

Terry ignored the little blue runt as she focused on Penny. She stared into her wide, frightened yet still defiant eyes. Penny bared her teeth at the woman defensively, looking ready to make a move. Terry merely shrugged her shoulders as she turned herself to the side, giving Penny a stare from one of her eyes. “All of us have skeletons hiding in the closet, dear Penny. Your mom is no different.” She grinned almost insanely. “And hers is quite....interesting. I think you would be quite impressed. I certainly was...”

Penny’s eyes widened in horror. “Y-You’re lying...” She whimpered softly. “Y-You’re just trying to trick me!”

“Am I..? Well then...” Terry leaned in, making Penny move back a little, still staring at her with a mixture of emotions. “Perhaps you should ask your mommy... See what she says.”

sss

This was great, just fucking great... Now how was he going to do this? He should have done something to make sure that she didn’t run off so quickly. He should have taken better care to ensure that something like this wouldn’t happen. He had been to confident. That’s what his problem was. And now because of that, Rapsheeba had gotten away from him, and she was who knows where, wandering around in the middle of the forest where...

Rudy shook the thought out of his head. There weren’t any zoners in this area. He had checked. He wasn’t entirely sure why it was devoid of zoners, but it probably had to do with the city being a more popular place to be. And the predatory wild zoners he was familiar with didn’t really live much further away from the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle, and that’s not where they were right now.

But regardless of all of that, something still could go wrong. He would need to get a hold of Rapsheeba and secure her so that she wouldn’t cause any problems. He would need to do it quickly, too. The longer that they were out here, the more likely it would be that someone would see or hear what was going on.

Terry had told him to wait on stuff like that, on the whole ‘informing the zoners’ thing. She didn’t want some kind of riot to be caused and he knew that she was right. If the zoners found out too early, they might flip out and not be able to listen to what he had to say. They needed to plan this out more and prepare for what was to come. If they weren’t careful, then it could all be ruined.

And it would be all because of this female zoner trying to get away from him. He could see Rapsheeba in front of him quite easily. She wasn’t that hard to miss. He narrowed his eyes into slits, his teeth clenching tightly. He didn’t want to hurt her. He didn’t want to do anything unnecessary. But he might be forced his hand if she didn’t stop and come back to him and try to cooperate.

“Rapsheeba! Please come back!” Rudy shouted. He knew that it wasn’t going to work but he figured that he would try anyway. It wouldn’t really hurt anything. “We need to go back! You’ve been out here long enough!”

Sure enough, Rapsheeba refused to listen. She continued to zigzag through the trees around her, trying to make it harder for him to follow. Rudy managed to keep up, although he had some difficulties. He nearly tripped a few times, making him wonder just how Rapsheeba was able to do this without falling down herself, especially since she was more worked up than he was.

He could hear her heavy panting. It wasn’t just the excercise that was causing it. He could tell that she really was frightened to the core, terrified. He could see the tears flying from her face. He could hear her soft cries that she was trying to stifle. He felt sympathy for her, as he knew what it was like to be scared. If she would only just stop and listen, he could try to soothe her and assure her that it would be fine. There was nothing to be frightened about.

But feh... She wasn’t going to listen. And that meant that he was going to have to resort to drastic measures. He hated to have to do this, but she left him with no alternative. It was a good thing that he did bring magic chalk as Terry had suggested. He pulled it out, watching its sparkly tip, before looking back at Rapsheeba. With his eyes narrowed, he began to draw swiftly.

Soon he managed to create a long rope with a loop attached to the end of it. He raised up his lasso and began to twirl it around. He focused ahead intently on Rapsheeba. Then he flung the lasso forward and it snagged onto the fleeing zoner. The force of her running caused him to be pulled forward and he nearly fell into the ground. He tightened his grip and he began to move backwards slowly, pulling the zoner with him.

Rapsheeba continued to struggle to get away from him, yanking and pulling and whatever else that she could do. But Rudy’s grip was stronger and he soon managed to make her fly back at him, falling into the ground in a heavy thud. Soon she laid there, groaning in pain, as Rudy quickly caught up to her, moving down to wrap the rope around her.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this.” Rapsheeba whispered under her breath. “I thought you were the Great Protector.”

Rudy flinched as she said this. He could understand why she was upset, but there was no reason for... He swallowed hard as he continued to secure her arms and legs, making doubly sure that she wasn’t going to be able to flee.

Once he was finished, he pulled her up into his arms, cradling her carefully. She didn’t struggle at this point. Her body was sagging a little. But there was something about this whole thing that made him a little worried. The way that she was looking away from him, as though trying to ignore him...

He shook the thought out of his head. He couldn’t worry about that right now. So instead, he focused on moving on forward, carrying the zoner with him. “Come on, let’s get you back to Penny and Snap. I’m sure they miss you.”

Rapsheeba turned and glared at him. “Yeah, mustn’t keep Terry and Vinnie worried, now can we...?”

Rudy shuddered at the way that she spoke. She sounded so bitter, so venom-filled... He tried his best to shrug it off and he forced himself to keep moving forward, heading back to the portal.

sss

Mrs. Tabootie narrowed her eyes into slits as she glared at the man before her. It took her all of her strength and willpower not to just grab onto the man and shake him. She knew that despite the fact that she was perfectly justified in doing so, she was only going to make things worse if she did. So she bit her tongue and took a step back.

But that didn’t mean that she agreed with his words. That didn’t mean that she was going to give up so easily. She didn’t care what he said. She was not going to stop until she got exactly what she wanted. And she knew that the others would agree with her. They were all in this together and they were going to make this man talk no matter what it took.

Well except for actually getting physical, since none of them wanted to get arrested.

“I don’t get why you can’t just tell us.” Mrs. Tabootie spoke, her voice as dark as it was before despite her efforts to sound a little nicer. She felt a shudder going through her body. She brushed it off as she took a step forward, still fighting to maintain some level of normalcy in her voice. “It’s crucial that we...”

But the man in front of her just shook his head. “I’m sorry, miss. But that is classified information. I can’t just tell you who had...”

“Now you listen here!” Mr. Tabootie took a step forward. “My son went missing around this area and we have reason to believe that he is being held in one of your cabins! If you would just tell us which ones have been registered and which ones have not, then we can begin our search for...”

“That would be breaking the rules around here. We have a strict policy. We can’t just give out this information. We need to consider our customer’s privacy here.” The man narrowed his eyes into slits. “I’m sorry, but I absolutely cannot allow you to have that information. Even if you were to register for a cabin, I still could not give you the information. We’ve had too many incidents in the past and you’d be dead wrong if you think we’d let it happen again.”

“But our children... their son, my daughter...” Mrs. Sanchez sounded a little more gentle than they did. Probably a difficult feat to do considering the circumstances. But she was still firm and she was still glaring at the man, even if just softly. “They might be here and we need to look.... You’re trying to hinder our progress because of some stupid rule? How could you do that?”

“Listen...I would love to help you, really.” The man rubbed his temples. From how he was sounding, it was clear that he was struggling to be as calm as possible. “But unless you provide me with some authentication from the cops, I can’t just....” His voice trailed off as he straightened himself up, clasping his fingers together. “Just...get out of here before I call the authorities.”

“Now you see here...” Mrs. Tabootie raised an arm up in the air, motioning it to the side. She was trying so hard not to snap at this man, but he was making things very difficult. “I don’t care about some authentication! I don’t care about your rules! I want my son back! He has been gone for months! And if you think I am going to just sit here and let you keep me from going through the one clue that I’ve had in all this time...” She pointed her finger up as her head turned to the side to give the man a sideways glare. “You’ve got another think coming.”

Mrs. Tabootie realized that she might have slipped up there. She realized that perhaps she had gone a little too far and she ended up putting them all at risk. But she just couldn’t help it. Her son, as well as Penny, might be around here somewhere. They might be held hostage in this vicinity, and the only thing that stood in the way of finding them was this stubborn, fucking man who refused to do the right thing and help them out.

Why did this rule even matter that much? It wasn’t like they were going in stealing anything. They were only wanting to go to the cabins that weren’t supposed to be used. How in the world was that an issue? Why would the man have a problem with this? It was all very frustrating.

And of course, this man was not going to make things easy for them. He looked stern, like he had just made his final decision. Any attempt to try to get him to talk was not going to work at this point. They were better off trying something else, she realized. But just what.... she didn’t really know.

She could feel her emotions swelling up into something of a ball in her chest and it moved down through her stomach. She could feel herself getting pretty heavy and she felt it a little difficult to move. Her legs were stiffened a little and she thought that she was going to topple over. It was one of the very few times that she actually noticed just how small her feet were and wonder just how she could keep standing here without making her feet hurt so badly.

“I will tell you only this one more time.” The man at the front desk said. “Get out of here, or I will have you thrown out.”

Mrs. Tabootie narrowed her eyes at the man, feeling a sense of disgust overwhelming her. She ground her teeth together and she felt her body tremble. She wanted to launch herself forward and grab onto the man and shake him.....but she knew it would be an awful idea. So without any other choice, she ended up relenting.

“As you wish... you child abuse enabler....” She growled softly.

The man was startled by this statement. But nonetheless, he just pointed his finger forward and silently urged them to leave. She, her husband, and her frien glared at the man before reluctantly leaving. When they got out, they looked at each other worriedly.

“So...what are we going to do now...?” Mrs. Sanchez’s voice was really low. More so than they had ever heard her voice. “It doesn’t seem like that man wants to help us.”

“I don’t know why, though. He would be helping solve a case. Wouldn’t he want to...I don’t know...” Mr. Tabootie shrugged his shoulders. Though he tried to hide it well, there was a notable displeasure to his voice. “I guess he just doesn’t really care.”

“Or he just wants money. People are paying him for the privacy, right? I guess he’s worried that he would lose money if people found out that he gave away information to a couple of non-patrons.” Mrs. Tabootie struggled not to let her anger get the best of her. “But that’s still fucking bullshit. He should have done at least something to help us out.”

Mrs. Sanchez nodded her head in agreement. “The question is now, what should we do about it? Should we go and try to get some help? Should we act on our own?”

“That is a difficult question.” Mr. Tabootie agreed. “Perhaps we should go back home and discuss this. I’m sure that we could all figure out something that we agree with.”

Mrs. Tabootie didn’t like the idea of leaving so soon. She would have preferred to stay here and try to find another way to convince that man to help them out. But she knew that it would be impossible. That man had made up his mind and there was nothing that could force him to change it. They were better off just leaving and trying to come back later. So as much as she hated to do it, she turned and began to walk away slowly, joining the others as they went back.

Hopefully they would figure out something. For their children’s sake...

sss

Terry leaned back in the couch, stretching her legs and arms out to her side. She looked at the television as the screen partially glowed against her face. She let out a small yawn as she turned her head up towards the ceiling, pondering just how much time had passed by. Where did it all go?

She had wanted to try to think of her plans more, try to get something more solid going and to remind herself of what she had planned to do. But for whatever reason, she just couldn’t focus on that. So she ended up taking a break and watched some television. Just some random comedy that she didn’t recognize. She opened her mouth and yawned once more, stretching her jaw muscles, nearly popping them.

She wondered if Rudy was back yet. She imagined so. She thought she heard someone chatting below and the voice didn’t sound like Snap or Penny. Speaking of them, she had to figure out just what she was going to do with them now. She acted like she knew before, but now that she thought of it, she realized that, in the long run, she really didn’t know. At least, nothing outside of trying to get them to agree with her or be too terrified to act against her. And that second part was too risky, as it meant that they could still try something once they had that spark of courage. Threatening them wouldn’t work well with Rudy so she had to think of something else.

It was rather frustrating for her that she seemed to constantly have some kind of issue with these two. Just when she thought of one thing, she realized something else and it became a sort of vicious cycle. It made her all the more frustrated that Rudy captured the mat all.

But that act of stupidity on his part did give her the information that she needed. Now she could take to Rudy more on this matter. She had planned on doing that after he got back. She told Vinnie to tell Rudy to come up and see her, and so far he hadn’t. If Rudy was back, she guessed that Rudy might be trying to convince his friensd to be more trusting of her and Vinnie. Not exactly a bad thing. But she hoped that he would hurry up. She was starting to get tired.

Just as she thought that, she could hear some footsteps coming up. She turned her head and felt a small smile forming on her face. What a coincidence.... Too bad life didn’t always work this way.

She watched in silence as Rudy came up the step, coming around the corner and looking at her directly. He looked a little nervous, his hands rubbing together. She guessed that something happened during the walk and that Rudy didn’t want to talk about it. She just gave him a small smile and gestured him to come closer, remaining silent.

And indeed, Rudy did come forward, but showing obvious signs of stress and uncertainty. It was clear that Rudy wasn’t even sure how she was going to respond. Terry did her best to look nonthreatening as she had before, patting the space next to her and and inviting Rudy to sit down with her. She remained as friendly-looking as she possibly could, not wanting to risk losing his trust now.

She still recalled when she almost lost control, when Rudy found out that they had been going out and getting supplies, that they hadn’t been fully truthful. It had been a real struggle to ensure that Rudy didn’t freak out. Thankfully, Rudy seemed to be over that, but it did open up the pathway for another potential break out from him. It was imperative that she and Vinnie did whatever they could to keep Rudy from turning against them. Especially since now, as she realized, their plans fully hinged on Rudy trusting them.

“Hello, Rudy.” Terry said in a calm, gentle voice. “I need to talk to you. I presume that Vinnie informed you on that?”

Rudy slowl sat down next to her. He nodded his had slowly. “Yeah, he told me. I...” He licked his lips slowly. He looked up at Terry and said, “I’m sorry it took me so long to get back. Rapsheeba had gotten away from me and...”

“Oh it’s okay. I..” Terry froze as she heard what Rudy said. With her eyes slightly narrowing, she spoke, “Did you get her back?”

Rudy nodded his head quickly. “Yeah, don’t worry. I got her. I put her back in with the others, where she’ll be safe.”

Terry smiled at this. “That’s good. And don’t worry, they won’t have to stay in that cage forever.”

“I hope not. I do feel guilty about this. But I can understand why you would think it’s too dangerous to just ‘let them out’. They might...” Rudy’s voice trailed off. He looked at the ground and crossed one leg over the other.

Terry gave him a comforting smile and looped her arm around him. She pulled him close to her. He offered no resistance. “Don’t worry, it’ll all work out in the end. I’m sure your friends will see reason soon enough. Just give them some time.”

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah, I know...”

Terry stared at him as sympathetically as she could. She could tell that he was still troubled by what was going on. And why wouldn’t he be? Even way back when, she was fully aware of how close Rudy and those other two were. He must be so deeply troubled by all of this, to have his friends turn their back on him like this...

Okay so they didn’t reallly abandon him. Terry was no fool. They would keep trying to get their friend back over and over again, no matter how long that it took. She and Vinnie would need to work hard whenever possible to keep this from happening.

But Rudy probably didn’t know. He might think, or at least fear, that they hate him, or are more upset than they really were. Rudy didn’t exactly have a good time recently and it would make sense that he would jump to conclusions a little easier for a while. At least until he regained his bearings. Rudy was resilient and she imagined it would not take long for this. Even after he did, he would still be willing to listen to her and Vinnie. After all, he still listened to them after his fever was completely gone. Their plan, no, her plan, had been more successful than she would have imagined.

But it may have come with its own consequences, as she and Vinnie learned the hard way afterwards. And she was reminded of this when she felt Rudy grabbing onto her lightly. She nearly jolted at this unexpected touch before looking down and seeing Rudy cuddling up against her. She remained frozen in shock before she carefully lowered her hands down, placing them on the boy.

She remembered some of the other times that Rudy had done this. She had been a little revulsed back then, only going through with it when she felt like it was necessary. But now, she was having a different sort of response. There was something of a warmth sensation spreading throughout her body, and she started to feel a little more relaxed. She leaned in slightly towards Rudy, but mostly, he leaned into her. It was a rather strange sight for anyone to behold, considering their previous mutual distrust of each other.

My, how things of changed...

Terry knew that both she and Vinnie had been stricken by this..this unexpected sympathy for the boy. She had fought against it the best that she could. But she wasn’t really sure how much longer she could do it. And what of Vinnie? How much trouble did he have? Should they embrace this and not fight it any longer? Or was it going to be the death of them at some point?

Well perhaps that was something to figure out for another time. Terry could feel her eyes flickering as she recalled there was something that she wanted to talk to Rudy about. How could she have forgotten? She’d better get it rolling.

“I need to talk to you, though I know already said that.” Terry broke the silence. She could feel Rudy adjusting himself a little in her arms. Terry loosened her grip a little, allowing the boy a bit more free range of motion. “I know that you might be wondering just what I want to talk to you about.”

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah. Is it...anything bad?”

Terry blinked at this question, wondering how or why Rudy had some kind of thought like that. She soon shook her head, although Rudy couldn’t see it from where he was. “It isn’t too serious. I just wanted to talk to you regarding your friends.”

Rudy immediately shifted himself so that he could look up at Terry. His eyes were a little widened at this, his breath coming in and out slowly from his mouth.

“Along with other things. I just need some...clarification.” Terry explained. She reached down and gently stroked Rudy’s hair. The boy seemed to shudder slightly, but he didn’t try to jerk away from her. “I know it’s a little late, and I understand if you’re tired. I was actually planning on talking about this tomorrow. But...” She leaned very slightly forward. “...if you find that you would rather get it done with now...”

She fell silent and gave Rudy some time to figure out what he wanted to do. She understood if he was going to take a while to figure out what he wanted to say, or just, what he wanted to do in general. She decided to give him all the time that he needed. They had plenty of time, anyway. There was no need to rush this stuff.

Rudy remained silent for a while. He had repositioned himself against Terry, as though he had decided not to answer for now. But Terry knew that Rudy was still awake. She had gotten familiar with how he was both awake and asleep. That kind of happens when you’ve had to take care of the same person for a few months. It kind of just...clinches. And from what she was detecting righ tnow, Rudy was rather sleepless.

Terry tried to prepare her tired and partially confused mind for what Rudy was going to say next. She had to have some information ready to give him, something to start telling him and to explain. If this was going to work, then being as clear as possible was important.

Rudy looked back up at her. Well, sort of. He leaned his head to the side and she could see part of his eyes and she could see how his lids moved. It was just barely there, but she could still see it. She could hear the small gasp as the young boy opened his mouth. And within moments, Rudy began speaking his soft-spoken answer.

“I think it’s best if we talk now.” Rudy’s voice sounded like it was so tired. It made Terry wonder just how long the boy had been chasing that zoner around. “That way, we can...” Rudy opened his mouth wider, stretching his jaw muscles, and released a yawn. “...we can get this done and over with before...” His voice stopped right there, but Terry got the picture.

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea.” Terry cleared her throat. “All right then. Let’s talk.”

sss

Terry slowly opened up her eyes. She shook her head, trying to shake off the darkness and blurriness and slight headache that she had gotten. She blinked her eyes a few times as she sat up slowly and stretched herself out. She smacked her lips a few times and scratched at her side. She looked down and saw Rudy laying there, his head up against her thigh. She slowly picked herself up and eased his head down on the couch. She placed a pillow there before patting him on the head. Then she turned and headed towards the kitchen.

She wasn’t really sure what time it was. But she could tell that it was a bit later in the morning than she thought it was going to be. She could feel the bright light hitting her in the face, forcing her to turn her head and grit her teeth tightly. She seethed a little before proceeding to head in further into the kitchen, her stomach growling for something to eat.

“Well I see you’re finally up.”

Terry noticed Vinnie standing near the stove. He was moving a skillet back and forth and the sizzling and sparking sounds shot everywhere. Upon getting a little closer, Terry could see that Vinnie had been making some bacon and eggs. For himself, of course, as it was too small for him to share with her. Not that she expected him to make her anything.

Terry rubbed her forehead and she let out another yawn. She wondered again just how long she was asleep. She rubbed her eyes and stretched herself out a little, both her arms and her legs. She moved her shoulders around a little, trying to get the last few bits of soreness from them, and then she proceeded to head further into the kitchen, her eyes still adjusting to the light.

“Yeah, me and Rudy stayed up a little later than we thought, talking.” Terry yawned for what felt like the third time. She must sound like she was incredibly bored and she couldn’t take her eyes going watery much longer. She shook her head once, staving off the last bit of exhaustion from her, as she turned back to Terry. “I spoke to him regarding what we discussed.”

“I see.” Vinnie nodded his head slowly. With a flick of his wrist and sending his eggs and bacon flying up and come crashing back down, caught quite easily, Vinnie asked, “So you spoke to him about his friends, I presume. I know that was something we were both concerned about.”

“Indeed. He does seem to agree that them resisting will be problematic.” Terry recalled that particular part of the conversation. It did sound a little more...forced. As though Rudy was desperately trying to believe that it was going to be okay. She decided to leave that bit out of this conversation. “I also spoke to him about how we are going to introduce this new reality to the zoners. I told him about the breeding program and..”

Vinnie curled his lip up slightly. “I hope you didn’t use that exact terminology. You know how Rudy is with those zoners.”

“Yes, I’m aware. Don’t worry, I didn’t say it quite like that. I just told him that we were still interested in offering some sort of protection program for the zoners.”

“I see, and how did he take it?”

“He was pretty satisfied, I do say so myself.”

Vinnie looked pleased himself, a smile spreading along his face a little. He was about to speak, but a spark caused him to turn his head and quickly take care of the situation with his food. He moved the skillet away and set it down on a cool part of the stove and turned off the part that he was using. As he was getting ready to move the food onto a plate, he said, “Any ideas yet on when we’re going to...”

Knowing exactly what Vinnie was getting at, Terry cut him off. “Not yet. Rudy still doesn’t seem entirely....ready. But he does seem to agree that we should try to do something soon. If we want a smooth transition, that is.”

With food on his plate, Vinnie moved towards the table. Once he said down, he said, “What of his two friends? You two figure out a solution for them?”

“Well Rudy still doesn’t really know what happened with them. He did ask what we did, though. I had expected it actually.” Terry recalled how taken aback she was by the question. Or rather, how it was brought up when she least expected it. They had been focused on talking about the zoners and integrating these new plans that Penny and Snap had honestly escaped her mind for a moment. “I did encourage him to keep trying to talk to them. And I also told him that his friends just needed a bit of time to warm up to everything.”

“If that will happen, that is.” Vinnie hissed softly. He sliced up a piece of egg and proceeded to eat it. He swallowed loudly and pointed his fork in Terry’s direction. “If we didn’t have any of these guys, we wouldn’t be in this mess, you know.”

Terry tried not to flinch too much. She could understand where Vinnie was coming from, but she also knew that he understood, as well as she did, that they were presently stuck with Rudy. They still needed his help. If they got rid of him now, it was going to be a gigantic guessing game on what they could do to convince the zoners to listen to them.

And even if they did decide to get rid of Rudy, they would have to make the blow count. Terry thought she could have killed Rudy with that single bullet to the chest, but she had been wrong. And she wasn’t willing to let go of this connection so easily, seeing the benefits that poured out from it. It was hard enough getting Rudy to not freak out when he discovered they had been going out a number of times despite claims of not being able to. She couldn’t even remember how that was pulled off. She didn’t need to experience that a second time.

But she was still happy that some progress was being made. Rudy agreed to talk more in depth with her later on regarding the zoners. He agreed to give some bit more information about zoner sociology, culture, important zoners that she would have to deal with. Well not just her, but anyone involved.

The biggest obstacle would be Biclops. Something would have to be done about him, as, according to Rudy, he was the biggest reason why Rudy had been trying to keep people out of ChalkZone. Biclops was the ‘big cheese’ so-to-speak of that place. He was the one who placed an anti-creator rule, the one who banished them long ago. But was it a ban that all of the zoners agreed with? Rudy didn’t seem to think so, as a number of zoners were immediately friendly even if they recognized the being before them as a human, as a creator.

Terry could feel a bit of anger rising up inside of her. All of this time, her frustrations could be focused against one particular zoner. It hadn’t actually been Rudy trying to keep her out. It was that giant. If something was done about him...

She sighed. The only option was talking with him, as Rudy would not allow her to just attack him. There was no way that he would permit something like an attack to happen with Biclops, whom he considered a friend. So if she were going to do something.....

This was definitely going to be a challenge.

For the time being, though, she realized that she should try to relax a little. Sit down and get something to eat. She and Vinnie had a bit of time before Rudy woke up. Wouldn’t hurt to kick back and relax a little. Make some food and quietly inform Vinnie of some of what went on last night.

So that’s exactly what she did. She went over and got a bowl, too tired to really make anything extravagent, and poured a small bowl of cereal. Once she had some milk poured into it, she turned and she headed towards the table, bowl and spoon in hand. She sat down next to Vinnie and proceeded to eat.

“There is something I was curious about.” Vinnie brought up a few moments later.

“And what could that be?” Terry said as she munched on her food. It was a little difficult to hear Vinnie over the sound of her own food crunching.

Vinnie paused for a moment, as though for dramatic effect. She could feel his eyes piercing into hers as he stared at her intently. “What are we going to do about their parents?”

Terry swallowed hard, nearly choking. She turned back and looked at Vinnie in shock and startlement. She forced herself to swallow as she continued to stare at the short man, her mouth hanging open. She couldn’t believe she had nearly forgotten about those people. Vinnie was right. What are they going to do about them?

sss

How were they going to do this? That was the question, wasn’t it? They all knew that something needed to be done. They all knew that just standing here wasn’t going to give them any sort of result. But they all agreed on just how hard this was going to be. None of them knew just how they were going to approach this.

Now wasn’t that just fucking fantastic...

But that didn’t mean that they were going to give up so easily. Indeed, as she narrowed her eyes slowly, Mrs. Tabootie could feel the thoughts just roaming around in her head, making her clench her teeth tightly. Despite the risks involved, she was still willing to go through with it. After all, she had waited for months to get her son back. The dang fucking police hadn’t found anything and the guy operating the lodge company wasn’t being of use, either.

They had already tried calling the cops, just to see if that were possible. But as her husband found out, the police would not grant them permission to search through that property. She forgot the reason, although she imagined that it had something to do with them supposedly not having enough ‘evidence’ to warrant a search.

As angry as this made her, she did at least understand, to some extent, where they were coming from. Indeed, they only had a hunch and one person’s word of a lodge being used when it should not be. They hadn’t seen it for themself. Without any proof, they had no case.

But trying to do something about it was going to be rather difficult. The first thought was to just go out and take pictures. But then, wouldn’t they be trespassing? That could be used against them. So even that didn’t seem like a possible answer. As much as they all hated to admit, it would seem like they would have to break the law a little bit. If they wanted their kids back... There were little options left...

She shook her head quickly and struggled to continue making breakfast. Her husband was going to be down here soon and she didn’t want to let herself look too flustered. He was worked up enough as it was. So she continued making breakfast, waiting for her husband to come down into the kitchen.

She lifted her head up when she could hear the sound of footsteps coming down. What perfect timing. The food was almost done, and she needed someone to talk to about this anyway. She could feel her body shaking, wanting so much to go out and just do....something about this. They couldn’t just stand here and do nothing, now could they?

She turned her head and she smiled the best that she could as she saw her husband walking in slowly. Mr. Tabootie had his head a little now and it didn’t look like he wanted to speak right now. Despite that, she still kept her smile up, hoping to lighten the mood just a little bit.

But Mr. Tabootie didn’t really say anything. He just kept walking slowly and he sat down in the chair. The way that he had slumped forward, it was rather obvious that there was a lot going on in his mind right now. He clutched his head tightly and he let out a small groan. The sight of this made Mrs. Tabootie flinch. She could see the darkness in her husband’s eyes, as well as the tears, and she quickly realized that he must have had a nightmare.

She didn’t need much time to deduce that it must have something to do with Rudy.

Staying silent for sometime longer, the large woman returned her attention to just finishing up breakfast. She prepared a plate, sliding the now cooked pancakes onto the plates she had gotten out prior. She fished for a couple of forks and knives, got out the butter and syrup, and she made her way over to the table.

Once she got there, she set the food down. Her husband immediately grabbed onto a plate and pulled it towards himself. He was hardly looking as he got some pancake pieces and set the mon the plat, put butter and syrup on it, and proceeded to eat slowly and quietly. His eyes were still averted away, as though he were trying to hide the tears.

Mrs. Tabootie looked at him sadly. She wanted to say something to him. But for the time being, she just got some food herself. She took the piece of pancake and set it down in front of her. She looked at the piece, smelling it, feeling tempted to just dig in. She licked her lips slowly. But she still paused to look over at her husband. Between this and the fear for Rudy and Penny, it was hard for her to eat. She eventually set her fork down.

“...aren’t you hungry, Millie?” Joe said out of nowhere, nearly startling the large woman. “I thought you would have wanted to eat...”

Mrs. Tabootie took note of how little Joe had actually eaten. “I could say the same thing to you.” She lifted up her gaze and looked at her husband in the eyes. “Did you..sleep well..?”

Mr. Tabootie swallowed a small piece of pancake, chuckling. “I’m fine, really.” He took another piece, larger this time. “I’ve never felt better.” An obvious lie. Mrs. Tabootie narrowed her eyes at this. “What makes you think that something is wrong?

“Joe, I’m not stupid.” Mrs. Tabootie said in a firm voice. “I know when something is troubling you. You can’t pretend that I don’t know.”

Mr. Tabootie let out a sigh at this. He looked at his fork, like he was seeing something interesting reflecting in it. Then he set his fork down, lowering his head and staring at the floor beneath him. “Well...I suppose I did have..some kind of a bad dream...”

Mrs. Tabootie’s expression softened up. She moved in closer to her husband. “Oh Joe... If you need to talk, I’m here for you.” She slowly placed her hand against Joe’s shoulder. The man gave a small shudder. “Please, you can talk to me.”

But Mr. Tabootie just jerked himself away. He moved a little further from his wife, staring at her with a sort of strange expression. It was hard to really tell what he was trying to convey here. But it did make her all the more worried about him. “I should be the one protecting you.” He finally said after a bit of silence.

“Joe...” Mrs. Tabootie started to say.

But her husband continued. “I mean it, Millie... I should be the one holding down the fort. I should be the one to be the shoulder you cry on. I should be the one to would cheer you up... I am the husband. I should just toughen myself up. I can’t let these feelings get to me. I can’t worry you.” He put his hand to his head and gripped it tightly. He grumbled as he gritted his teeth. “What kind of husband would I be if I just...” He closed his eyes and lowered his head. “I’m so sorry, Millie. I thought that...”

Mrs. Tabootie looked at her husband symapthetically. She tried to think of what she could say. But for the time being, she was just...drawing a blank. All the while, her husband’s body shook, as though he were getting ready to cry.

“I thought I could have convinced that man to help us... I thought the police would have helped us...” Mr. Tabootie’s finger’s pressed more tightly against his skin, nearly drawing blood it looked like. “I failed as a husband and as a father for...”

“No!” Mrs. Tabootie latched onto her husband, pulling him close. “Please, Joe.. Don’t think like that...” She sniffled as a few tears stained her cheeks. Instead of pushing her away, she could feel Joe hug her back. “We’ll figure out something. We’ll find a way to search that campsite. Even if we have to sneak in ourselves.”

She knew that it was a risk to just waltz into that land without permission. But she didn’t care. Neither did her husband or Mrs. Sanchez. All they cared about was getting their children back.

sss

Terry struggled to think of what kind of solution they had regarding this situation. She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten about this particular factor. How could she have left it out of the equation recently? She had done a good job before with cutting Rudy’s communication with his family off. But now that he was feeling better, it was just a matter of time before he would try to get a phonecall of sorts in.

And what of his parents coming to find him? She knew how overprotective parents work, especially those two. She rubbed her shoulder as she recalled how the large woman rammed into her. She was surprised that she didn’t get some kind of bruise from that. And that was for just trying to punch her son. She did not want to know what she would do to her upon seeing her again, after she not only tried to kill her son, but also kidnapped him and held him hostage for so long.

She grumbled under her breath, rubbing her tembles as she tried to figure out just how she was going to go about this. She could just keep going forward, since Rudy hadn’t mentioned his parents yet, and hope that he won’t for a while. But who was she kidding? She knew how much that boy missed his family. She knew that if he had the mind to, he would just walk outside and try to find them. She would need some way to keep him inside. But now?

She leaned against the wall, having finished her breakfast. She listened to Vinnie doing the dishes. Or whatever was left of them anyway. She had done the first part, but her mind was getting too preoccupied with this stuff. So Vinnie ended up taking over so that she didn’t end up hurting herself by mistake. Terry didn’t bother thanking him, though the short man knew that she was still grateful nonetheless.

It was definitely going to be a challenge, wasn’t it? Trying to figure out exactly how they were going to go handle this was...something. She couldn’t even begin to think of how this would be figured out. Even if they didn’t move from this spot, something was going to happen. There was no way around that.

There were one of two things that could happen.

The first one was rather obvious. Rudy was going to want to ask to talk to his family again. His run-in with Penny would rekindle that. Just because he trusted Terry and Vinnie now didn’t mean that he suddenly didn’t care about his parents. Of course he did. And it stood to reason that he would want to try to speak to them. But the moment that he called and talked to them, they could have that call traced all the way back here, and that wasn’t going to be good.

There was also the fact that his folks could try to find him. This was the second thing she thought of. For a while, she had her doubts that the search party was going to be of any worry. After all, they would not think to check the log cabins here. But at the same time, she should not underestimate just how far mothers were willing to do for their children. It only stood to reason that Mrs. Tabootie was going to be....less than willing to give up when it came to finding her son.

She had her doubts that Mrs. Sanchez was any different. For all she knew, they were both looking for their children and they might end up coming here. A long stretch, sure. But she didn’t want to dismiss it as a possibility. There was indeed a good chance that something could happen and everything was going to fall apart and.. She wasn’t interested in something like that happening.

Terry narrowed her eyes into slits. She needed to make sure that neither of those women end up here. She didn’t know yet how she was going to do that. But she would figure out something. And once she did, she would secure both Rudy and Penny. They were both staying here. She was going to see to that.

But then there was the question of what would she do afterwards? If ChalkZone were to get exposed, if more and more people were going to show up, then wouldn’t the parents come in as well at some point? It would only stand to reason that something like that would happen. In that case, wouldn’t they see their children and rush in and try to get them back home? Wouldn’t they try to have her arrested? Wouldn’t they try to bring her back down? She couldn’t let something like that happen. She should try to do...something about this. But what?

She looked over at Vinnie. She doubted that he would have any sort of answers. He probably didn’t realize that this was a particular issue. She looked away from him, her eyes turning to the ground as she sighed deeply. It looked like she was being forcedi nto a decision that she didn’t want to make. She couldn’t believe that it had gotten to this point.

And that was...

...was it a good idea to even expose ChalkZone in the first place...?

She wanted to slap herself for thinking that. But she couldn’t help herself. The thought wouldn’t leave her. If exposing it meant leading more people inside and in turn, they’d see Rudy or even Penny, wouldn’t someone alert the parents? What if the parents get in the world and see their children? What if...

She exhaled deeply as she narrowed her eyes. It would seem that she had bitten off more than she could chew. She would need to do something about this and fast. She didn’t want to give up on getting rich, but if anyone found out she had that child again....

She’d need to think about this.

sss

“Why not just create an isolated theme park?”

This hadn’t been the first time Rudy had suggested this. Didn’t Terry say that he had brought it up before? When he and Terry were chatting last night?

But despite that, it was still a bit strange to hear. Vinnie wasn’t sure what to make of it. Should he even consider the idea? Was it possible to do something like that? Or should he just dismiss the thought and try something else? There were several things that could be done, but he could only pick one thing.

And it wasn’t going to be that easy to accomplish.

Vinnie leaned back on the couch, trying to get himself comfortable. He wasn’t sure how long this meeting had went on. Looking down at his watch, he could see that it had only just barely started. He growled at this and snorted softly. He imagined that perhaps only a few minutes passed by. That was right. He remembered now. Didn’t Terry just finish telling Rudy about their little problem? And didn’t Rudy try to come up with a suggestion? Yeah that seemed like what had happened.

Vinnie looked over at Terry. She was leaning forward, as though she were genuinely interested in what Rudy had to say. He couldn’t really tell for sure if she was or not. It was so hard to tell with this woman, what she was thinking. But regardless, it didn’t seem like she was particularly confused or anything. So perhaps she had accepted this idea.

“A hidden theme park, you say?” Terry asked slowly. Her tone was a bit...different. Not exactly what he would have expected her to sound like. He could not describe it that well. “That does sound really interesting.” She tilted her head. “Just how would it work?”

Rudy raised his hand up in gesture, keeping the other one gripping the coffee table and keeping himself from falling over. It served as a reminder to Vinnie on why they usually don’t have group meetings in here. “If a section were sliced off...”

Vinnie frowned a little at this. “Sliced off?”

“Well that’s a pretty bad terminology, I admit. I meant blocked off from the rest of ChalkZone.” Rudy explained, smiling somewhat sheepishly. “What I was saying was....” Suddenly Rudy froze for a moment. It was just a quick little thing, but still noticeable. There was a particular look in his eyes and....was that a flash of fear?

“Rudy?” Terry asked, her voice tinged with concern. Whether or not it was faked was another question entirely. “What’s going on?”

Rudy’s eyes remained wide for a few moments before he shook his head quickly. “N-Nothing... I must have spaced out for some reason.” He rubbed his head slowly and shook his head a second time before returning his attention to Vinnie and Terry. “Anyway, as I was saying, block off a part of ChalkZone for this place, and have the area tightly controlled. The chances of someone else getting a hold of the magic chalk would be low.”

“That does make sense and it was a little similar to what I was thinking of.”

Vinnie turned to Terry as she said that. He couldn’t help but frown at her, raising one eyebrow up. He had no idea if he should trust her statement or not. What if she were lying just to appease to Rudy? Regardless, he let her continue to speak.

Terry continued, “But even with that taken care of, what about your friends? Penny and Snap? And then there’s this Biclops person you told us about...”

Rudy nodded his head slowly. “I admit, they’re going to be a bit of trouble. They just don’t understand.” He lowered his gaze a little. It was still hard to tell just how truthful he was being, but Vinnie tried not to let it bother him too much. “But I’m sure they’ll warm up to the idea eventually. But....”

“But...?” Vinnie asked softly, motioning quickly with his hand. “What’s on your mind, kiddo?”

Rudy sucked in a sharp breath, gritting his teeth. “Even if I do convince those two, even if Rapsheeba also agrees, Biclops will be harder to convince.”

Vinnie narrowed his eyes ast this. So some of the zoners would be more resistant? He was honestly not really surprised by that. Yet at the same time, he was kind of hoping that it would have been a little... He guessed easier was the only time he could think of for this. He had believed that it wouldn’t have been too difficult convincing the zoners to be cooperative. But of course, some would be more resistant. Some wouldn’t understand.

Just like this Biclops character.....

So what should they do about him? Vinnie immediately realized that trying to hurt Biclops would only anger Rudy, and that’s not what they wanted. Their only other option was to convince the giant that they were not going to cause trouble and that he had nothing to worry about. But he didn’t think that would go over well, now would it?

So just what were their options? Biclops was such the enigma. They couldn’t kill him, and yet they couldn’t negotiate with him. If Rudy’s words were anything remotely correct, and so far, they had been, then they were going to have to tread lightly with this guy. He was the biggest obstacle in their way now.

He once more turned to Terry. He saw that she had a smile on her face. Had she already decided what was going to be done about this guy? A part of him hoped so. But he also hoped that she wouldn’t go too crazy. The last thing they needed was to royally screw things up and make Rudy trust them far less than he did now. After all that work...

Vinnie shook his head before he returned his attention back to the conversation. He waited and listened to whatever else was being said carefully.

sss

Biclops tilted his head up towards the sky. He opened his mouth and breathed in deeply, letting out a loud sigh. He wasn’t sure just how much time had passed. But it was more than enough to make him fill up with worry. He couldn’t help but continue asking the same questions over and over again in his mind.

Just where were Snap and Penny?

They had ran off earlier, pursuing that tracker he had given them. Then just...nothing. He hadn’t heard a word from them in days. Was it three or four or five? He wasn’t sure. He just knew that it had been long enough to register as being a big issue. They would never take this long to get back at him. So just what in the world had happened?

Had they suffered the same fate as Rudy Tabootie? Had they been kidnapped? The thought made him freeze up and feel a gagging sensation deep within his throat. He tried his best to fight off the horrible taste and he licked his lips slowly. He looked to the ground, partially expecting one of them to be standing there, telling him that they were all right. But he knew the truth. He knew that they were still out there somewhere and if they....

He tried to keep himself calm. Worrying about this wasn’t going to help. He wanted to try to keep faith with those two. They were probably onto something. Maybe they did find Rudy but he was taken and they were just trying to find him and make sure that he was all right, to save him from whoever had taken him. Those were very real possibilities. He would much rather believe this than to think that they were....taken.

Biclops felt a small tear start to form in his eyes. Rudy had been missing for months with no word on where he was. Then this happens and they were so close... And now even the red chalk doesn’t seem to know anything. He took note of his own tracker that they appeared to be wandering around. No indication of having spotted something. That was just... He tried his best not to let himself get too worked up over this. There had to be some positive news coming eventually....right?

He felt so useless. He couldn’t leave the Chalk Mine right now. It was just too dangerous. Doing so would leave the mine vulnerable to theft. Even if he couldn’t do anything with the chalk, Skrawl having any magic chalk at all was not a good thing. That nasty little zoner would probably think of some way to misuse it. And if that happened...

Biclops released another sigh. He looked out ahead, staring at the horizon. It would seem that this was all that he could do. Stand here and wait and hope for the best. He had no other options available to him right now. There was nothing else that he could do for Penny or Snap. And especially not Rudy.

He hated to feel like this. It just felt like he was getting ready to give up. But that wasn’t it. He just...had no idea what he was going to do. Leaving the mines meant potential danger somewhere down the line. But not doing anything was like... That was the worst that he could do for Rudy, Penny, or Snap. If they were all taken as well.... If they all suffered from the same fate... Biclops took another look at the mine that he guarded. It’s not like he had to fight intrusions often and Skrawl hadn’t been seen in a while. So maybe....

He quickly shook his head. No, he had to remain put. Regardless of how uncomfortable that he was, leaving the mines could potentially create more problems than they were having right now. He was literally safer to just...

He suddenly heard a voice calling out to him.

“Biclops! Hey!”

Biclops turned his head at the sound of this voice. He squinted his vertical eyes. There was someone approaching. His heart leapt. Could it be Rudy?

“I need to talk to you!” The figure called out.

When they got closer, Biclops felt his heart sink to the bottom of his stomach. No, this wasn’t Rudy. It was just some random zoner. Looked like one of the bakers. Lazlo he believed his name was?

Biclops tried to put on his best smile. “Hello there. Nice to see you.” He flinched at how fake that sounded. Regardless, he still pressed on. “What do you need from me?”

“I wanted to ask you something.” Lazlo said as he finally reached Biclops. He put his hands on his legs and panted, his body hunched forward. “Do you know where Snap is? I haven’t seen him in a while.” Biclops frowned at this and turned his head away. Lazlo seemed to realize that something was wrong. “..Biclops...? Did I come at a bad time?” He raised his hand up slowly. “Look, if you’d rather I come later, I can...”

“No, it’s fine.” Biclops waved his hand, rubbing his forehead with his other. “It’s just that... I thought you would have known...”

Lazlo shook his head. “Known that?” He frowned slowly. “Biclops, what’s going on?”

Biclops had no idea just how this zoner couldn’t have known about this. It wasn’t like it was kept a secret. He had told Blocky and surely he would have told the others. Everyone knew that Rudy, Penny, Snap, and Rapsheeba were all missing. So what was this guy’s excuse? How come he didn’t know?

Lazlo seemed to sense Biclops’s confusion. He lowered his head and let out a sigh. “I admit, I’m a bit out of the loop. I did see Rudy acting strange before and he disappeared, and I know I told Penny and Snap. That was the last thing I remember getting an update about.”

Biclops narrowed his vertical eyes a little. “Where have you been?”

Lazlo flinched a little. “I was away visiting a friend of mine.” He turned his head in one direction and pointed that way. “He lives way over there. Miles away. I literally just came back.” He looked up at Biclops, raising his hand up in gesture. “I wouldn’t have gotten any updates. I came directly to you because I know how observant you were. I’m sorry if I came at a bad time.”

Biclops felt a small pang of guilt at this. How could he have gotten upset with this zoner if he had been visiting a friend of his? Of course he wouldn’t have known about what happened. That wasn’t his fault. He rubbed his massive arm, his eyes moving in one direction, his massive teeth pressing into his equally massive lips. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I’ve just been feeling rather...off. More people have disappeared.”

Lazlo’s eyes widened in horror at this. “Oh no... Who disappeared..?”

Biclops looked at him sadly. “Right now, four people are missing.” He raised a finger up to represent each person. “Rudy, Penny, Snap, and Rapsheeba.”

Lazlo put his hand to his mouth. He took a small step back, gasping softly. “Oh my g.... I’m so sorry..”

Biclops nodded his head slowly. “I know you’re sorry. I just..wish that there was something that could be done. I have no hints on where to go, or how they could have vanished.” He didn’t bring up the red chalk. It wasn’t like those red chalk zoners were respondible. He would have seen reports on corpses if that were the case. “And I can’t leave this place.” He motioned to the Chalk Mine. “I need to make sure that no one unwanted gets in here. And I think you and I both know who must stay out of here at all costs.”

“Oh I know... Hmm..” Lazlo rubbed his chin thoughtfully, tapping his foot slowly. Then something seemed to flash in his eyes. He raised his finger up. “Perhaps I could be of some help?”

Biclops raised an eyebrow at this. “What do you mean?”

“I mean... What if I were to go out and... I don’t know. Figure out information. Try to ask people around what happened. Maybe find what I can. You know... since you can’t move from that spot, maybe it would be beneficial if someone else went out and did the searching for you.” Lazlo offered. He gave a smile, but it was kind of an awkward one, indicating just how uncomfortable and nervous he was asking this.

Biclops thought out this for a good, long moment. He tried to think of how he should respond to this. The offer was so tempting. It was so easy to just say yes and go along with this idea. It was so easy to welcome him board and send him out and do all of this stuff.

But was it really a good dea? Should he really go through with something like this? After all, he could be just landing himself in trouble. What if something happened to Lazlo? What if he ended up in huge trouble? Could he really be held responsible for that?

Yet at the same time, there were four people missing and this guy did just offer to help... What did he have to lose by accepting his help? It was at least better than just standing here, doing nothing.

Offering a small smile, Biclops motioned his large hand towards the baker zoner’s hand. He took grasp of the hand very lightly. It was so awkward shaking a hand up and down like this. But he did so anyway, and slowly he released the hand, still smiling the best that he could down at the baker zoner. He worked himself up to give his response. A calm, simple statement that opened up opportunities in the future.

And hopefully, find where Rudy, Penny, Snap, and Rapsheeba were.

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”

sss

“Snap, I know you’re upset. But this isn’t helping.” Rapsheeba tried to sound as gentle as she could. But she couldn’t stop herself from feeling a little nervous with Snap, unsure of what he was going to do next. “Please, just sit down with me. Let’s talk...”

Snap turned to glare at her. “How can I relax?! You had a chance to escape and he just...!” Snap ground his teeth together, releasing a loud grunt. He sounded like such a little child, and it also sounded as though he was getting ready to strike at something.

Rapsheeba and Penny looked at him worriedly. Neither of them could really blame Snap for being so upset. Rudy had screwed things up, sure. Rapsheeba could have gotten away and told the others what happened. She might have been able to warn the zoners and they could have prepared for what was about to come.

But then Rudy...

Rapsheeba couldn’t bring herself to stay that angry with Rudy. It wasn’t really his fault. He was brainwashed by these humans into thinking he was doing good. She didn’t like the way that he was acting, sure. But at the same time, could she really blame him? He hadn’t yet fully broken out of this spell that he was stuck in. Based on what she had seen and heard, it was going to take quite the blow to make him shake this off. But what could they do?

Those thoughts fell by the wayside, however, as she looked on at her friend. She bit her lip firmly, her face contorting into sympathy. It wasn’t like she could be angry at Snap, either. She just... Oh how she wished that things could be easier...

But that wasn’t the way life worked and she knew it. She looked over at Penny, silently hoping that she could come up with some kind of answer to her silent question. But they both could only just stare at each other and like... what now..?

Snap kicked at the ground as hard as he could, causing them all to jump up at this. Rapsheeba and Penny stared at Snap in shock, their eyes wide and their mouths dropping open. They watched as Snap just stood there, his eyes narrowing into slits, his teeth grinding together and growling lowly. They wanted to say something to him, but they couldn’t bring themselves to say anything.

Snap stood there for several moments, his eyes remaining narrowed and his growls escaping his throat. He looked like he was about to pass out, but surprisingly, he managed to keep on standing. Eventually, his expression just softened up and he just fell to the ground. Rapsheeba and Penny rushed to his side and tried to comfort him the best that they could, whispering soft words to him.

But their words didn’t seem to have much of an effect on him. Snap was just staring off into the distance, his eyes looking as though they were filling up with worry. He remained silent for a few moments, his vision looking somewhat cloudy.

And when he did speak, his voice sounded so weak.

“Oh Rudy, he.... He’s not going to snap out of his, is he..?”

Rapsheeba and Penny glanced at each other. They couldn’t think of what to say. They didn’t want to say anything out of fear of making Snap feel worse. But at the same time, they both knew just how how little options that they had at the moment.

Rapsheeba knew that she sounded like a broken record when she asked herself this, but how were they going to get out of here? And just how were they going to convince Rudy of the truth? Both tasks seemed almost nigh impossible. She didn’t want to believe that of course. But given all that’s happened.... She shook her head, trying not to let herself get so caught up in those thoughts. There just had to be a way that...

Hey, wait a minute... What about...? She knew that it was going to be a risk, but there wasn’t much else that they could try. And they could find a way to factor this into their actual escape if they were careful enough. So maybe they could try to...

Rapsheeba turned her attention to Penny, seeing how she looked like she was less worked up than Snap. “Hey... do you think that we could try to phase through the bars?”

Penny looked at her, her eyes widening as though she had gone crazy. “If they catch you out there...”

Snap seemed to have heard what she said as well. He turned and stared at Rapsheeba in shock. “Even if you get outside, there’s snow, isn’t there? If you touch it...”

“Who said anything about that?” Rapsheeba motioned her hand towards them. “My suggestion is...what if one of us goes out to grab the keys to our cage and hide in here? Then when we get the chance, we could help Penny...”

“How well would that work?!” Snap called out, cutting Rapsheeba off from speaking any further. This sudden shout out was enough to make her freeze, not expecting him to react like this. “I mean... She’d still need to get around those two creepazoids and I doubt she’ll get far. They probably prepared for this!”

Rapsheeba let out a small sigh. She couldn’t really disagree with Snap’s statement. But at the same time, she was starting to get a little annoyed by this. What she brought up might be their only chance at getting away. But he was choosing to hide behind uncertainty, which wasn’t going to solve any of their problems. They needed to try something, or else they were going to be trapped like this for a long time.

“What if she could get out?” Challenged Rapsheeba. “What if she could get back home and get into ChalkZone? What if she could warn the others and help rally up some people to try to help us out? Wouldn’t that be worth something?”

“I..” Snap tried to think of what to say, but he seemed to quickly realize that he had nothing to say to that. He just lowered his head and turned it away, breathing in and out slowly, snorting softly. “Well....I suppose that is a good point... I guess I’m just worried of what would happen if I let my guard down too much and...” He looked over back at Rapsheeba, his expression having softened up, looking a bit more shamed than before. “I am sorry.”

Rapsheeba couldn’t stay angry at Snap for long. It wasn’t like he could really help it that much. After all, he did have good reason to feel upset, good reason to be so pessimistic. And yet she knew he wasn’t all that. She knew that he was still holding onto the hope of escape.

She would admit herself that her plan might not be the best and it might end up making things worse. But they had to try something, or else nothing was going to get better. Rudy still wouldn’t listen to them, whether out of willful ignorance or still honestly believing Terry and Vinnie. So they were going to have to try something else, and this could be their only shot.

She turned and looked over at where the keys were. It was so funny that they kept the keys in the same room, just out of reach. Well, out of reach for her, that is. The two zoners in here, namely her and Snap, could reach it. But the threat of snow outside along with what Vinnie and Terry would do if they caught them, kept them inside. But if they were able to get out for a short time and get the keys...

No doubt Penny would be able to get away more easily. If she could just make a run for it, and find a way to get out of this awful place, then she might have a chance to escape. She just needed to get outside and run for it, try to keep some distance in front of Terry and Vinnie. It wouldn’t be too easy she was certain, especially since it hadn’t yet warmed up enough in the Real World to melt the snow. But they would surely succeed eventually, right?

And now might be their only chance. The others were still upstairs. Probably still chatting or what the fuck they were doing up there. That gave them time to slip out and grab the keys. Then they could hide them in the cage and act like nothing happened, and wait until they left again before having Penny get out.

...no, even better.

They let out Penny right now. While they had this opportunity.

Rapsheeba narrowed her eyes as she made her way towards the bars. She did have to stop for a moment, her mind unexpectantly flashing back to when Vinnie had come in and.... She quickly shook her head and pressed on, gritting her teeth together. She continued forward until she made it to the bars.

“Are you going to go for it?” Snap asked in a soft voice.

Rapsheeba nodded her head. “I won’t be long.”

Penny whispered, “Be careful.”

Rapsheeba smiled at this. “Don’t worry, I will.” She glared at the bars before her. “This shouldn’t be too hard.”

Rapsheeba reached over and grabbed onto the bars in front of her. She gripped onto them tightly, her eyes narrowing slowly, teeth pressing a little harder against each other. She struggled to shake off the horrible memories and flashes in her head and pressed on forward. She took in a deep breath, sighed, and then started to move forward. She turned herself to the side, shut her eyes, concentrated, and then...

Rapsheeba could feel herself starting to slip through the bars. She felt herself being squeezed between them, and then slowly she started to come out on the other side. It was a somewhat of a gradual process, but soon she made it out on the other side of the cage.

Once she got there, she kept her eyes glued to the thing before her. The hook that held the keys up. She would have stopped and thought to herself about how stupid these people were for leaving it hanging there, if she wasn’t already concerned about helping Penny escape. So keeping her mind from wandering too much, she immediately made her way towards it. She tried to go slow yet fast, quietly yet still quickly enough to try to get a hold of the keys fast, before she...

She finally reached it and she tried to grab onto the keys, only to realize that it was too high up. She narrowed her eyes and she pushed herself against the wall, using her 2D powers to slowly move up. Then she detached herself partially and leaned in forward, reaching out desperately to grab onto the thin piece of metal. Eventually she could feel her fingers wrapping around the keys and she raised them up. A smile crept along her face. She had done it. She...

“Rapsheeba! Look out!”

Everything suddenly halted as she felt something grabbing onto her neck. She shuddered and flexed, her hands opening up and releasing the set of keys that she had in her hand. She could hear them clanging against the ground. Gripping her hands against whoever was holding onto her, hearing her friend’s calling out to her, she turned her head to glare at...

...Vinnie...?

Rapsheeba stiffened and jolted at this, her blood running cold. Seeing those eyes glaring at her, feeling these fingers squeezing her neck, she could feel her mind racing, corners of it becoming frozen as flashes of memories began to strike her again and again. She shook he rhead and tried to jerk and yank herself free. But Vinnie’s grip was tighter than she could have imagined.

Vinnie’s eyes pierced right through her soul. It was nearly enough to make her heart stop beating. She couldn’t help but release a small whimper, a few tears forming in her eyes. Her mind crowded with fast-moving thoughts and she couldn’t get herself to stop them. She felt her heart trying to claw its way out of her chest as she continuously tried to kick at Vinnie.

But it was of no use. She couldn’t keep this up. Eventually, with her energy soon spent, she just fell limp, her feet hanging here like they were nothing. She stared at Vinnie, one of her hands still gripping at his. She wanted to say something, anything, to make him let go of her, but the sight of him like this, it just froze her like she were a statue. How could she even think of moving when he had.... She shut her eyes tightly as her mind forced her to relive those moments.

“I see I haven’t taught you a big enough lesson.” Vinnie hissed under his breath. “I thought you would have learned by now that there’s no escape.” He pulled Rapsheeba closer, ignoring her screams of fear, as his face was suddenly placed so close to hers. “Maybe I need to give you a reminder...”

Rapsheeba’s eyes widened in horror at this. With ice shooting through her blood vessels, her body filling with adrenaline, she started to struggle once more, twisting her body from side to side.

“Leave her alone!” Snap called out. “Put her down now, you short ass lard!”

Penny pushed herself against the bars, trying to reach out towards Vinnie. “Please don’t hurt her! Come on, Mr. Raton.... Please let her go..!”

“If you dare hurt her, I’ll...!” Snap began to push himself against the bars, as though ready to use his own 2D powers. But he immediately froze when Vinnie started to twist Rapsheeba’s neck. “No! Stop!”

“Don’t do it!” Penny called out, her voice tinged with horror.

Vinnie kept his arm looped around Rapsheeba’s neck, pressing on it hard. The singer zoner gagged and tried to struggle, kicking her feet wildly. But no matter what she did, the man wouldn’t let go. Even her desperate act of biting didn’t seem to do much of anything. “Maybe you all need to be punished.”

“Vinnie!” A voice called out.

Rapsheeba had hoped that this was Rudy. But she knew that Rudy’s voice didn’t sound like that, causing her heart to immediately sink. She watched as Terry came storming in, her eyes narrowed and teeth bared.

Vinnie jerked back from this and appeared startled by Terry’s sudden arrival. He stammered, “B-But Terry, she...”

“I don’t care! Just put her back and don’t let me catch you messing with her again!” Terry shouted at him. She grabbed onto his ear, pinching it between her two fingers. Vinnie yelped in pain as he was pulled to the side. She spoke harshly into his ear, “You have any idea what would have happened if Rudy found you like this? Doing this to his friend?”

Vinnie hissed, “She tried to... Yeowch!” He let out another cry of pain as Terry pulled on his ear even harder.

“Right now, the boy is taking a shower, so you’re lucky that I came down here when I did. Now unless you want me to take your ear fully off, release her.” Terry growled at him.

Vinnie grumbled softly, but he ultimately conceeded. Giving another glare at Rapsheeba, he let her go. Too startled to think of it and knowing that these two would have realized it by this point anyway, she didn’t attempt to grab the keys. She just immediately ran back to her friends, her whole body shaking, her legs nearly buckling from all the wobbling. She didn’t care about the key anymore; she just wanted to be with her friends.

It took her only seconds to retreat into the cage. She pushed herself through and got inside. And once she was in, she immediately collapsed into the ground. Emotion had overwhelmed her, pushing down against her back. She could barely keep herself lifted up. She didn’t even try to. She would have fallen into the ground if it weren’t for the support of her friends. Literally.

Rapsheeba soon laid there, held by Snap, stroked by Penny, as they comforted her, her small cries filling the air.

sss

The red chicken spoke up. 

Skrawl waved his hand dismissively. “I’m completely sure! I mean, why aren’t you excited for it? You’ll get a chance to get back at that stingy giant for what he had done to you!”

The red mirror said, nodding its...head, body, whatever. 

Skrawl gave a series of dark chuckles. It would seem that these guys were entirely missing the point. And they were supposed to be smart... Well bah, he would say to that. So far, they were just proving how incompetent they really were. Just a bunch of idiots who didn’t seem to grasp what was going on here. Did they not realize who they were dealing with? Did it slip their mind that they were with the great Skrawl?

“Oh you don’t need to worry about that giant. Trust me.” Skrawl sneered, his lips pulling back into a snarl. “I will make sure that he isn’t a problem for you. I’m the one he likes to focus on. He thinks that you are all out trying to find Rudy, right? He won’t see this coming.”

The two red zoners glanced at each other. It was hard to tell what they were thinking. Such as the frustration of a red chalk zoner. They were almost always glaring, even when they were looking at something that made them happy.

But at least they didn’t seem to be ganging up on him or anything. So that was a good sign. Perhaps they were still believing in him, still thinking that he was fully in on this idea. Which in some ways, he was. But before he felt it was safe to continue forward, wasn’t it a good idea to make sure that a certain giant would not get in their way? It would certainly be quite the shame if something happened because of that huge fucker.

Skrawl kept himself in position, hiding around the back, pushing himself against the rocky surface of the wall. They were pretty close to the Chalk Mine. In fact, they were right there, just located in the back. He chose this spot because he felt would be the easiest way to try to get in close without the giant realizing that they were there. With a smile moving over his face, he started to move forward slowly.

Upon realizing that one of the red chalk zoners were trying to follow him, he had to quickly raise his hand up to stop them. He needed them both to realize that, no, he needed to go forth himself. He wanted to believe that he knew better than them and he would be able to get around here without that stingy giant trying to ruin his fun.

The red chicken told him.

Skrawl raised a claw up and shushed it. “Well it’s not if you keep making noise!”

The red window cocked an eyebrow. Its expression seemed to harden. 

Skrawl growled at this. But though he was tempted to speak up, he immediately clammed himself and turned his head away. He realized that they were right and he would draw attention to himself. So as he grumbled to himself, he resumed heading forward.

So far, it was all looking just fine. He didn’t see any signs of the giant, or any signs of anyone coming over. Biclops must be hidden further within the cave, just as he had figured. This means that trying to get rid of him, while still challenging, wasn’t going to be as bad as it could have been. He just needed to make sure that he could not go through this one exit.

He hadn’t yet figured out just how he would do that, though. But he was certain that he’d think of something once he came over here. He lifted his head up and watched as the opening of the cave became apparent. And as he moved closer, he...

Skrawl immediately hung back, his teeth gritting tightly. He didn’t notice the massive giant standing just at the edge. It didn’t look like he had spotted him, but he wasn’t about to take chances. The jellybean-like zoner pushed himself closer to the rock, his teeth gritting almost to the point of breaking them, seething heavily, struggling to think of what he was going to do next. He wasn’t going to be able to think of a good way of going about this without seeing the entrance. But how could he see the entrance without looking over? It was quite the conundrum for him.

He narrowed his eyes into slits. Oh how he wished he had brought his Beanie Boys along.... Not much he could do about that now, is there? He’d just have to make do with what he had presently.

And he did have a big, powerful chicken on his side. Perhaps he could...

“Skrawl! He’s here!” A frantic voice called out, nearly causing the jellybean to hit his head against the rocks.

Skrawl shook his head once, getting rid of the stunned feeling, and looked over to see just who had called out.

It was that damned baker zoner. The purple one that worked at that stupid bakery place that Snap liked to visit. Skrawl formed a tight fist, wondering why that fucking piece of shit hadn’t gone somewhere else like...he didn’t know, his own stupid bakery. He was about to charge at the zoner, strike him down with his claws, but there was a sudden flash of color before his eyes, and before he knew it, he was pushed up against the wall.

“Argh...” Skrawl grunted as he felt his body squished up like this. He glared at Biclops, trying to look as threatening as possible.

But it didn’t seem to bother the giant very much. The giant was too busy glaring at him, his massive bulk casting a shadow over Skrawl’s comparitively tiny body. Skrawl squirmed about a little, digging his claws into Biclop’s hand. But that did little to make the giant let go. If anything, it only made him squeeze even harder.

“Skrawl... I’ve been expecting you...” Biclops hissed.

Skrawl bared his teeth. “I feel flattered...”

Biclops narrowed his eyes. “Can it.”

Skrawl grumbled loudly, twisting his body left and right. The giant’s grip on him was too strong, and he wasn’t able to free himself still. Oh wasn’t that just a surprise... He tried to keep himself looking as defiant as possible, but he wasn’t sure how long he could handle that before he snapped. If this giant could just get a little closer, he might be able to...

His thoughts stopped for a moment as he saw the purple zoner running off. Skrawl’s eyes blazed at this sign of cowardice and actively tried to get at the zoner. Though he couldn’t hope to free himself, he still sent a slew of insults in the zoner’s direction, deriding them for running away the first chance he got and not sticking around to fight. His voice rapidly grew coarse and he instead shifted his attention back to Skrawl.

“I’m not sure what I should do with you.” Biclops spoke, his voice sounding a little more menacing than it usually did. “I could just crush you and not have to worry about you again.” He shifted his gaze to his side. “And then I could have been the one to try to find help.”

Skrawl wasn’t entirely sure what Biclops meant by that last part. But he did get the hint in Biclop’s voice when he mentioned about crushing. Skrawl could feel a flash of fear shooting through him and he could feel his stomach churning. He struggled to fight against the nauseous feeling as he squirmed about in the giant’s hand, twisting this way and that. None of the helped.

Biclops watched this struggling and almost looked pretty amused. A smile spread along his face. Not his usual friendly one, but a far more menacing one that he hadn’t worn in a long time. The sight of this made Skrawl swallow hard. Just what was on the giant’s mind?

“But you know, maybe there is a use for you after all.” Biclops leaned in a little closer, causing the jellybean to flinch at this shift of weight against him. “I have not yet figured it out. But I am more interested in getting Rudy Tabootie back... And his friends of course. There are four missing zoners and I am not interested in losing another.” He peered in closer, his massive eyes looking like giant spotlights hanging over Skrawl’s body. “Even if it means someone like you.”

Skrawl turned his head to the side and gave a dark ‘tsch’ sound. “So you would rather keep me alive than deal with me? Are you a coward, Biclops?” He fully knew the risk that he was taking, but maybe if he got the giant worked up enough...

Biclops tilted his head to the side, almost mimicking Skrawl’s move. “Oh I can see what you are doing, and it’s not going to work.” Skrawl snarled at this. Biclops merely shrugged. “But if you wanted to help me find Rudy as well...”

Skrawl stared at the giant in shock. Had he lost his marbles?

“I know it sounds crazy.” It was like the giant could read his thoughts, Skrawl thought sarcastically. “But I’ve seen the way that you can be without Rudy around. Conquering this world without him seeing it seems quite empty, right?” Biclops stared at Skrawl for a few moments, keeping silent as though he were giving him some time to think about this. Then he continued, “Am I right? Did I guess the nail on the coffin?”

“Guess the nail on the... bah!” Skrawl jerked his head to one side. “You really need to learn your sayings, you stupid giant.”

Though Biclops growled at this, he didn’t attempt to crush Skrawl within his hand. Skrawl was, even if he didn’t admit it outright, surprised by this. “Did I guess right or not? Do you or do you not feel that victory is meaningless if you cannot gloat to ‘Master Tabootie’?”

Skrawl didn’t answer this. His mouth refused to work and he could only just utter in small growls. His head was bombarded with several conflicting thoughts and he could feel a headache spreading throughout his skull.

Biclops apparently took this silence as a ‘yes’ answer. He slowly nodded his massive head, pulling it back and making a small gesture with his free one. Judging from his expression alone, it seemed apparent that Biclops knew that this was a silly idea that could easily backfire upon him. But regardless, he still was going through with it, perhaps thinking that this was the best way to deal with this situation. “Well now, if you’ve decided that...” But he wasn’t able to finish.

There was a sudden movement, the weight of something striking down, a flash of red, and before Skrawl knew it, he was released. He fell to the ground and he coughed a few times. Then he looked up and he could see that Biclops had been pushed back by something big and red.

It was the large red chalk chicken.

“What the...” That was all Skrawl managed to say before the red chicken spewed fire towards Biclops. The attack missed, but only just barely. Skrawl raised his hand as he felt a wave of heat striking him. “What’s going on?!”

The red window zoner said as it hobbled forward. Its teeth were bared. 

“But he was trying to...” Skrawl grabbed his head and shook it. He looked back at the large chicken. His mind spun in circles as he tried to think of how to respond to this situation. This was not how he had imagined things going down. Not like this. If he was going to do something, he’d have to think of it now, before....

sss

Rudy let out a small yawn as he stretched out his arms and legs. He hadn’t intended on staying in the shower for that long, but it did feel pretty good. The warm water that had run along his back helped him to forget what had been going on lately.

The mixed up feelings, the uncertainty, trying to figure out how everything would work... All of that was momentarily set aside as the shower helped him to relax more. He could still feel the gentle rain-like drops hitting his body even after he had finished drying himself and got dressed.

Being in here did bring back some memories. He recalled taht day when Vinnie and Terry decided to give him a shower and he had tried to resist, only to relent. The chair that they had used was still in here, placed back for when he tried taking showes on his own, back when his leg still hurt. At least, worse than it did now. At least it was more manageable than before, and he was able to shower even without it.

He went over to the mirror to look at his face. He was a little surprised to see the dark circles under his eyes and chalked it up to stress. He turned his head left and right, rubbing his chin slowly. He reached over to grab onto a towel and he used the sink to wet it. Then he proceeded to wipe his face with the lukewarm water.

But as he lowered the towel, he couldn’t help but freeze. There was a flash of something in the mirror. He shook his head and he wiped his face some more, thinking that it was just a figment of his imagination. Upon looking again, however, this time, he was able to see just a glimpse, but still long enough to realize what it was.

It was a flash of his mother’s and father’s faces. Standing together, arms over one another, smiling. And then it was gone.

Rudy stared at the mirror with wide eyes and he felt a flash of emotion striking him. He clutched his chest and he felt tears burning in the back of his eyes. He sniffled once and struggled to catch his breath, which remained trembling for a little while. It took him a little bit before he managed to settle down enough. But his heart still twisted and thudded, and he had to remain still for even longer.

He stood there for several moments. He could hear his panting filling the air. He could hear the loud clashes in his head. He could hear voices swirling around him, some taunting, some more encouraging, but overall it was just distressing. He tried to keep himself as calm as possible as these voices pushed up against him, but it seemed like it was getting to be impossible. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could handle this before he just...

The boy eventually let out a loud exhale, feeling as though he was pushing out more than just his breath. He could feel his heart rate slowly returning to normal, and he gritted his teeth tightly. He drew in deep breath after deep breath as he looked back at the mirror. This time, he saw nothing. But the impact was still there.

He still missed his family. He hadn’t been thinking about them earlier, much to his horror. He had been more focused with Vinnie and Terry. He had gotten used to life here. He had adjusted to their whim, become complient... He shut his eyes tightly and allowed more tears to flow down. How could he have done something like this? How could he have forgotten about his mother and father...? Oh gawd, they must be worried sick...

With his mind clicking, he swiveled his head towards the door. Vinnie and Terry would have to let him contact his parents now, right? They were able to leave; he saw proof of that. He shook off other things they told him to try to convince him that they couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t tell what the reasoning was, especially not with his head currently swelling up, feeling like he needed to drain something out. So instead of just standing there, he decided that the best thing to do was just....ask.

After all, they would surely understand why he wanted to contact his parents. It’s been over two months. He wanted to see them so badly, at least hear their voice. If Terry and Vinnie truly cared about him, they would let him call his parents and talk to them. He would confront them and talk to them about this. And this time...

They didn’t have any excuses.

sss

Vinnie grunted as he felt Terry’s hand grabbing his neck and pushing him against the wall. He tried to make her let go, but the crazed woman just tightened her grip on him. “Geeze! You didn’t have to get so rough!”

“I can’t believe what an idiot you were!” Terry hissed at him. “Of all the stupid things...!”

Vinnie narrowed his eyes at this. “You’re still upset about that? I’ve already apologized! What more do you want?!”

“Do you really think apologizing is good enough?!” Vinnie flinched at this and pulled his head back, expecting the woman to slap him. Although she did not raise her hand, that did little to help him calm down. “Do you realize what you could have done?!”

Vinnie struggled to control his breathing. It was getting incredibly difficult the more that he stared at this insane woman. It was like she was forgetting that he didn’t actually cause any trouble. Rudy did not see anything, and he wouldn’t have known. Terry herself even said that after they had some ‘fun’ with Penny and Snap. And she didn’t seem to care about him hurting Rapsheeba before. So why the fuck was this so different?

Terry continued to glare at him and, in a show that seemed to reveals he heard his thoughts, she said, “Rudy was in the house when you did that, you blockhead!”

Vinnie flinched as Terry shouted that at him. He clenched his teeth together as his mind reeled from what the woman was indicating. Though it did click with him, he still refused to show any weakness to this woman. He wasn’t going to let her stop all over him that easily. After all, she was just as much to blame for this as he.

He would have said something, but he soon decided that it was better that he keep silent for now. There was not really much that he could say at the moment, anyway. Even if he could respond and try to resist, he’d only be lying. He knew that Terry was absolutely right. Rudy was in the house and he could easily have been within earshot.

And he was all too certain of what would have happened in that case.

Vinnie had his doubts that trying to control Rudy again using the same methods would work a second time. Not after seeing what he was doing with Rapsheeba, what he had threatened to do with his other friends... No, Rudy would not fall for it, and the boy knew them longer as enemies, not as friends. So the negative feelings would likely overwhelm him. Even now, it seemed like Rudy was still fighting with these feelings, perhaps only willingly going along with them because he was hoping for the best.

Vinnie wasn’t entirely sure what they were going to do if Rudy ever did find out. He turned his head towards the door, a part of him worrying that the child had overheard. Even though he didn’t see anyone there, he still felt quite fearful. He knew that this would all have been for not if they allowed something like this to happen, if they let Rudy lose his faith in them.

Vinnie let out a small sigh, lowering his head so that he stared at the ground for a little while. Though Terry hadn’t actually stopped growling or showing signs of anger, she didn’t seem like she was going to try to continue speaking. Perhaps she had finally decided that enough was enough and they both got the point. Perhaps now was a good time to move on.

“So what are we going to do?” Vinnie finally said. He had just realized that the others could tell Rudy what happened. Even if he didn’t think there was any danger to that, a small, tiny part of him couldn’t help but wonder if something could still happen. “Should we threaten them into silence?”

Terry thought about this for a moment. He could see the contemplative look in her eyes, the way that she tapped her fingers against her chin. Soon she shook her head slowly, shrugging her shoulders. “No, I don’t think that’s necessary. You and I both know that Rudy is too high strung on what we say.”

“Isn’t he faltering a little, though?” Vinnie pointed out.

There was a very noticeable flinch in Terry’s face. It was clear that she did think about what Vinnie said, perhaps noticing it herself before. But she soon shook it off and tried to look confident. Vinnie wasn’t falling for it. “That could be, but I don’t think it’s anything to be concerned about.”

“Are you sure?” Vinnie asked as he tilted his head to the side. “Do you want to take that risk?”

“Why do you care? I thought you weren’t worried.” Terry folded her arms to her chest. “You told me that he wouldn’t believe what the others say, regardless of how scared they looked.”

Vinnie pressed his fingers against the upper bridge of his nose and rubbed it. He could feel his sinuses getting worked up. “Okay I can see where this is going.” He forced himself to sigh heavily. “Look, I think we can both agree that we’re getting really close to our goal with the boy and we don’t want to lose that.”

“Correct.” Said Terry.

“So perhaps we should....speed things along.” Vinnie leaned in a bit towards Terry, motioning with his hand a little. “I know we both thought that we should wait a little while, get the others on board or whatever, but I think we’re just going to cause ourselves more problems if we wait. So why not send Rudy in to try to make it official? Have him mark down some suitable place in ChalkZone?”

He waited for Terry to reply. He honestly wasn’t sure if he expected her to say anything too quickly. It was still quite a bit to think about. This was a big step and they knew the risk of letting him in ChalkZone. They could not go in as of yet and if something got screwed up, there was little that they could do, outside of sending in something themselves. But they would rather avoid that if possible.

But despite the concerns, Vinnie was legitimately wondering if they really should push things along now. What if they were to send out Rudy to ChalkZone and set them up a place? Then they could get started and in the end, even if Rudy did start to turn against them, at least they would have a place set up. It was something at least.

The risk was still there. Moving forward or going too slow both had their points where enough was enough. Both came with the risk of everything falling apart. Neither option was better than the other. They only needed to figure out which one had the most benefits, and right now, Vinnie honestly felt acting now was more beneficial. They had been stalling for too long. It was time to actually do something about it. Whether or not Terry agreed was another thing entirely. And if she didn’t...

Perhaps he could try to convince her.

“I mean, I know that it might not be smart...” Vinnie shrugged his shoulders upward. His head slowly moved from side to side. “But when you really think about it...”

“Yes, I agree.”

Vinnie nearly spluttered at this, staring at Terry with wide eyes. Did she just agree with him? He thought that she would have debated with him some more, especially considering her mood. “Y-You do..?”

Terry nodded her head once. “I think we have been dragging this on too long. Rudy’s already got some stuff figured out. And he knows that world better than we do.” Terry smiled as she raised a finger up in the air. “Perhaps it is time to let him choose a suitable spot for us so we can construct that amusement park of yours.”

Vinnie stared at Terry for a few long moments. And then he nodded his head affirmatively. Now that they were over that argument earlier and right back on the page, they could begin to discussing these matters once more. He hoped that, by the end of it all, they could come up with some kind of solution.

He was about to say something else when he heard footsteps behind him. He and Terry looked over and their eyes widened as they saw who it was.

There in the door way stood Rudy.

sss

Once they had made a decision, there had been very little hesitation to continue on forward. Nothing would stop them from getting through here. Nothing would stop them from carrying forth this plan. Not even if there were any park rangers roaming around this place.

Mrs. Tabootie frowned at this. Shouldn’t there be people patrolling this area to make sure that it was safe? Or perhaps there was no one here? It was hard to say, given that they were deliberately trying to stay out of sight and they hadn’t really been here long enough to tell. But it was still something of a concern and she couldn’t help but but her lip.

But she still continued forward slowly. She tredged through the snow, keeping her head low, her eyes shifting left and right slowly. This ridge they had found was perfect, at least for now. She and the others kept going along, hidden by a row of evergreen trees, all of them covered in thick snow, obscuring them even more.

She looked on ahead, staring at her husband who had taken the lead. “Do you see anything yet, Joe?”

The man shook his head. “There’s just nothing unusual here. I don’t think we’ve even hit the first log cabin.”

“The first targeted one, you mean.” Verified Mrs. Sanchez. “Remember, we are here only to look at the log cabins that don’t seem to have anyone in them on the outside. If Terry is hiding in one of these places, she would make sure that no one would see anything unusual on the outside. Look for signs like curtains covering the windows.”

Mrs. Tabootie frowned slowly at this. It was going to be difficult trying to get in close enough to make any of those distinctions. But what other choice did they have? They needed to approach as few houses as possible to avoid getting caught. Even just being up here along the ridge was dangerous enough, even if falling was not an issue.

The three remained silent as they continued along, keeping close together, trying to move quietly through the snow. At least it was pretty soft, so it didn’t much too much of a noise as they went along. Though that was of little comfort when they were aware that someone could still see the snow moving, no matter how slowly they moved. They could only hope that the snow-covered trees covered them enough that no one would really take notice. Perhaps they would even think they were small animals.

Up ahead, Mrs. Tabootie could see that there was some kind of a gap. A curved dip that almost looked like someone had slid down here already. The three of them froze at this and wondered if that’s what actually happened. They moved in closer slowly, keeping their eyes glued to the thing on the ground. Soon they came up to it and they could get a nice good look at it.

It did look like something or someone had been here all right. And from the looks of things, it didn’t seem like they were having a good time. There were some marks here and it seemed as though someone was climbing up the mountain. There were too many marks to really indicate what size this person was. Only that they were trying so hard to hang on.

Mrs. Tabootie glanced at her husband and at Mrs. Sanchez. They all pondered what this could mean, what it could be indicating. Should they just dismiss this and continue on? Perhaps it wasn’t something worth noting. Might have been just a hiker trying to test their limits and....

But then why wasn’t there any footprints here? They could have been covered up, true, but this thing here was not. Part of the area here had some overhanging rocks and trees that served as some kind of a shield and there was very little reason to think that only this tiny spot would have been protected from further snowfall. And even then, though there was some snow on it, looking padded, there was no way that full on footprints would have been covered up so completely so fast. There should have been some form of indication around here.

Mrs. Tabootie turned her head and followed the trail down towards the edge. She took a few steps over, taking her time. The others looked at her, watching her, keeping their distance as she looked over the edge to see where it went off to.

And she immediately froze.

“Whoa!” Mrs. Tabootie called out. She immediately flung her arms around as though she was about to fall. The others grabbed onto her and steadied her. “We’re really high up...” She managed to whisper.

“Well yeah. I told you that we would be heading up here because the closest log cabins are up on the hill over there.” Mr. Tabootie said as he pulled his wife back a little. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“I guess I must have forgotten.” Mrs. Tabootie felt guilty about that. It wasn’t like she had meant to ignore her husband. It just legitimately slipped her mind. She raised her hand up and began to rub it against her head a little. She could feel her head spinning around in circles. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s quite all right, Millie. I...”

“Hey, what’s this?”

The two Tabooties looked to see Mrs. Sanchez standing close to the edge. She had bent down almost to her knees and she was staring at something. It wasn’t the marking in the ground specifically. Instead, it was something else. Something below the...

Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie edged in closer. They stretched their legs and their bodies out and they tried to look over the edge as much as they could. But as it turned out, they didn’t need to go in that far to see what Mrs. Sanchez was seeing.

There was some kind of indentation on the ground. Something or someone had fallen down there. And unlike up here, there seemed to be the very faint indication of footprints here. It kind of looked like someone was trying to cover them up but failed. And there was a concentration of these marks around the mark, indicating that more than one person had been here.

Mrs. Tabootie’s immediate thought was to rush down, but she could see that the ledge weas dangerous. Slick and rocky, any attempt to head down, despite it not being that far up, would have been awful. She could see proof of that. Some of the rocks and twigs looked obviously disturbed and precarious.

But they needed to get down somehow. Narrowing her eyes, she turned and looked at the others. “Is there a safe way down there?”

“I think so, but it would involve going all the way back.” Mr. Tabootie said.

“Then let’s go.”

“But that would mean losing progress. Millie, we’re almost up there.” Joe tried to tell her. “We just need to go a little further and we could check the nearest log cabin.”

Mrs. Tabootie narrowed her eyes. “But what if this is a clue, Joe? Are you willing to just walk away from that?”

“I...” Joe was not able to come up with a response to that.

Mrs. Sanchez, however, did have an idea. “Why not go down yourself? I don’t think it’s terribly far. We’ll wait for you up here.” She turned her head and stared intently at Mr. Tabootie. “Won’t we?”

“I...” Eventually Mr. Tabootie swallowed and nodded his head. “Sure, yeah. We’ll be right here, waiting for you.”

Mrs. Tabootie smiled at this. But that soon turned into a frown. She turned her head and glared back down that ledge, biting her lip. She then looked over along the edge that they had just climbed up. It did seem like a waste to go all the way down if it was for nothing. But a part of her kept telling her, kept clawing at her chest, that there was something different about this. She had to check it out as quickly as she could.

For all she knew, this could lead her to Rudy. Her son....

Drawing in a deep breath, Mrs. Tabootie began the journey down.

sss

“Shh.... It’s okay, Rapsheeba... You’re safe...” Snap whispered as he continued to hold onto the shaking zoner. He wasn’t sure what else to do. He just kept his arms around her and tried to help her feel secure. “He isn’t going to hurt you again...”

He wasn’t really sure if his words were getting through to her. The zoner just kept shaking and crying softly. Her tears poured down her cheek and he could feel them staining his shirt. He ignored this sensation as he cuddled with her. He put his face against hers and nuzzled her.

He wished that he knew what to say. He wished that he knew how to help her feel better. But just what could he say? After what Vinnie had done to her, and how he had threatened her again.... He couldn’t begin to imagine the horror-filled thoughts going through her head right now. He couldn’t imagine just what she must feel like. Scared didn’t even cover it. He had never seen her look this way before. Especially how pale and tear-stained she was...

Snap bit his lip firmly, feeling his head spinning. He could feel his mind alternating between wanting to keep comforting Rapsheeba and hunting down the nasty human who had hurt his friend like this. She didn’t deserve this. She fucking didn’t deserve it...

Snap shut his eyes tightly and felt his own hot tears burning against his skin. So many emotions rushed through his head right now, making him feel almost sick inside. His body trembled as a torrent of emotion kept wracking through him, turning him into some kind of a twig of sorts. He ground his teeth together slowly, struggling to keep himself under control for his friends’ sakes.

Snap looked over at Penny, who hadn’t said a word in a while. She was on her knees near them, her body hunched forward and her hands against the ground. She looked quite sad and uncertain about the whole thing. Her eyes held so much negative emotion and she looked as though she were struggling to think of what to say. Seeing her like this was painful for Snap, especially with how lost she looked.

He couldn’t bring himself to ask her to do anything. After all, what could they do? Was there anything that could possibly be done? It was too risky to try to get out now. They had seen them. They should have been more careful. If only...

Snap let out a small sigh, turning his head away. Although there was nothing that they could do right now, they could at least try to cheer up Rapsheeba and calm her down. It looked like they were going to have at least some time together alone before the others would come back. Maybe they could....

It was a silly idea. But given Rapsheeba’s current mood, that did seem like an improvement. He licked his lips slowly and opened his mouth up to speak.

“H-Hey.... Want to hear a song..?”

Rapsheeba sniffled a little as she looked up at Snap. She stared at him in shock and confusion, unsure of what to make of what he said. Penny was looking at him in a similar way as well. Neither girls spoke, giving Snap time to conjure up something to say.

“I-I just thought up a song a few days ago and.. I...” Snap stammered, struggling to speak. It was difficult trying to form the right words, given the situation and all. Yet somehow he managed to keep going even with his words stumbling against his tongue. “I think you might like it.”

Rapsheeba sniffled a little. She reached up and wiped her tears from her face. “Th-That’s sweet of you, Snap my man...” She whispered softly. A smile formed on her face, though it was quite shaky. “D-Do you mind.....singing it to me..?”

Penny nodded at this. “Yeah, Snap. Can you?”

Snap froze at this, feeling immediately put on the spot. He sucked in a small breath. A part of him honestly thought that they were going to reject it or laugh or whatever. But they both wanted him to.... Well, it wasn’t like he was going to keep them waiting, anyway. He was pretty good at coming up with words on the fly anyway. He was quite proud of himself. He breathed in deeply and he opened his mouth. Soon words began to flow from his mouth.

The singing commensed.

sss

“H-Hey... can I walk to you guys...?”

Vinnie and Terry just stared at the boy, wide-eyed, in shock, and silent.

When Rudy had come in here, he didn’t really think of what to expect outside of just seeting the two of them sitting together, chatting like usual. And though he was seeing more of that right now, there was something off about it this time. He wasn’t quite sure how to put his finger on it.

But regardless, he still moved himself in closer, going fully into the room. Despite his uncertainties, he still felt as though he needed to get through with this. He had gotten this far. He should just keep going.

“Yeah? What is it, Rudy?” Terry asked, at last breaking the silence. “What did you want to ask?”

“W-Well... I.. I know that I’ve already asked this before and I know how you feel about it, but..” This was it. Now was the time to just fully ask. There was no getting around it. With his voice caught for a moment, he said“Can I please talk to my parents?”

Rudy did not expect to see the two to look so shocked as they did now. Why should they be surprised that he’s asking? They should have known that he was going to ask again sooner or later. Or did they think that he was just going to up and forget about it? He didn’t want to insult them by calling them idiots, but still, they shouldn’t have been this startled.

The wait for them to reply seemed to take forever. They were constantly looking from each and back to him. It was like they were trying to see if they had been hearing things or not. Their eyes were wide, barely blinking at all, their mouth a little open like they were trying to speak. They remained like this, silent and standing, gawking at the boy.

And all Rudy could do was just...wait. Stand here and wait. He could feel his mind churning about in his head as he tried to figure out just what they were so confused about. Did they really think that he was going to keep going without asking this crucial question? Did they not think that he might want to know at least something about his family? It’s been two months and he knew that they were not snowed in any longer. Even if the phone lines were down, they could at least let his parents visit....right?

Or was there something else going on?

Terry was the first one to break the silence. “R-Rudy.... are you...sure?” She stammered at this and shuddered, as though she felt like she made a mistake. She quickly cleared her throat, but her tone remained shaky. “I mean... It’s still kind of early and the phone lines...”

Rudy cut her off, “But you guys are able to leave, can’t you?” He spread his hands outward. “Why can’t you let my parents come over?”

There was no answer. Terry and Vinnie just kept looking at each other nervously. The sight of this began to confuse and frustrate Rudy. Here they were, presented with no way to say that they couldn’t, presented with a way that he could talk to his parents without the phone, and they were still being so... He just didn’t get it.

Unless...

Rudy’s eyes began to widen and he took a step back from them. He watched their expressions carefully as he started to breathe in and out quickly, trying to control himself. He could feel his head spinning and his teeth grinding together. They were.... He tried to shake the thought out of his head, but it just wouldn’t leave him.

Slowly, Rudy moved towards the door. When Terry raised her hand up, he immediately quickened his pace, his heart twisting with a burning feeling inside. He trembled a little harder and suddenly all the fear from before began to surge back up. Not all the way, but enough that it began to send chilling tingles throughout his body. He could feel his hair starting to raise on end, and unable to stop himself, he turned and attempted to bolt out of the door.

He let out a yelp as he felt two hands grabbing him and pulling him back. His feet left the ground as Vinnie hoisted him up and carried him back into the room. Rudy let out a few cries, twisting and turning in the man’s arms without much success.

“No! Wait! Let me go!” Rudy shouted, panic striking right through him. “You have to let me go! Please!” But Vinnie refused to let go, instead sitting him down on the bed near Terry. Rudy shut his eyes tightly as his struggles rapidly decreased. “L-Let me go... please...” Tears strolled down his face.

Why aren’t they letting him go? Why aren’t they letting him reunite with his parents? These and other disturbing questions began to rise in his head, making it ache. The only reason why they wouldn’t was if they...

He stopped his thought midway when he felt something move along his head gently. He opened up one of his eyes and stared warily up at Terry. The woman stared down at him with what seemed like a sympathetic expression, but it was definitely hard to tell. He took in a few deep breaths and waited for her to say something.

“I know you want to see your parents, Rudy. I know, we both know, how much you miss them. Do you really think that we would purposely try to keep you from them?”

Rudy didn’t answer.

Terry’s eyes furrowed further with concern. “I hope you know us better than that, Rudy.” She turned her head slowly to the side. “But we can understand why you’re feeling like this. You haven’t seen your parents in a long time and I’m sure you’re wondering why we can’t let you see them just yet.” Rudy looked at her intently. “Trust me, it isn’t about wanting to keep you from them.”

“Yeah, kiddo. We have another reason for keeping you here and not letting anyone visit.” Vinnie had loosened his grip on Rudy and seemed to sound so sincere as he spoke. “The real reason is.... it’s too difficult to leave even without the snow around here. Terry and I, well mostly Terry, are wanted.”

Terry interjected, “Which I’m sure you’re aware of.” She sounded a tad upset at this, making Rudy flinch, but she soon softened up her tone. “But that is the past and it was my fault, anyway. Because I....” Her voice trailed off, but they all knew what she was talking about. “And Vinnie by association, he nearly gets into trouble as well.”

Rudy lowered his head and turned his gaze to the side. He still wasn’t really sure what to make of this. “That still doesn’t explain why you won’t let my parents come over.”

“We will eventually. It’s just not safe right now. It would take longer than just a few months for the cops to stop searching for a near-child murderer.” Vinnie froze at this and slapped himself in the face. Trying to ligthen the mood, he quickly added, “B-But it’s all working out. You see, we are keeping your family safe by not letting them come over.”

Rudy frowned at this. “How so?”

Terry gave him a small, sad smile. “What would happen if people spotted them here with us? Provided that theyare civil enough with us....” Terry lowered her gaze. “But even so, anyone who sees them with us might think that they are in cahoots with us. And then they might get arrested, too...” Terry lifted her head up a little more, becoming more eye level with Rudy. “I don’t think you want that to happen to your parents, right?”

Rudy felt his eyes widen at this. He gritted his teeth tightly as he slowly shook his head. “N-No... I don’t...”

“There, you see? It was just a misunderstanding.” Terry leaned in a little closer, her arm looping around Rudy’s shoulder and gently pulling him closer. “I know that you are scared at times and you really do miss your family. We promise, you will see them again. Just give it some time.”

Vinnie nodded his head in agreement. “It’s going to be all right, kid.”

Rudy wasn’t really sure what to say. He felt guilty for not giving these two the benefit of the doubt. He felt horrible that he didn’t think that there was a reason for why they were being secretive that didn’t involve them purposely keeping things from him. He could feel some tears forming in his eyes and he leaned in towards Terry. He pushed himself into her embrace, her hand stroking him as she quietly comforted him.

sss

It hadn’t taken too long for her to reach the spot where they saw the marking in the ground. In fact, it took her around half the time, a feat that surprised even herself. With her size, she thought for sure it would have taken longer, especially with the snow and...

Mrs. Tabootie shook the thought out of her head. There was really no point in debating that right now. She got here and that’s what was important. She stared intently at the ground in front of her, moving slowly, taking her time as she reached that spot.

Once the indentation became more clear, she began to scan it with her eyes, moving them around the edges so that she could get an idea of what was here. She frowned slightly as she noticed that it looked like someone really had been laying here. She moved in a little closer, taking care not to disturb the other marks in the ground. They had guessed that someone was here but it was hard to tell at first if it was human or animal.

Well now that she was here and able to see the marks far more clearly, she wanted to say...definitely a human. Even with the marks sort of washed away due to snow, it was still pretty obvious what this was around there. The marks weren’t that faded out.

Looking at it more closely now, it became apparent that there hadn’t actually been a struggle here like originally thought. The one laying on the ground were just holding still. Perhaps they were unconscious? That was a possibility. The others looked like they had been walking around, pacing. Mostly one of them. Pretty odd behavior if they were comrades. Maybe they were spectators or otherwise confused people who watched the person fall or just came upon them. Maybe they were just figuring out what to do before finally.... picking them up, she guessed is what had happened.

She stopped when she noticed something on the ground. She looked around and tried to figure out just exactly how she was going to get over there to take a better look. With her teeth pressing up against her tongue, she took slow, steady steps forward. She tried so hard not to disturb the ground too much. She didn’t want to mess anything up. She would hate to think of what happened if she did so.

Upon seeing it more closely, she peered in and could see that it was something dark in color. A very slight red it looked like?

Her eyes widened at this.

Was that....blood..?

Mrs. Tabootie shook her head once more. Why should this surprise her? She had already guessed that this person was injured in some way. Blood should not be of any surprise. She managed to quickly calm herself down and took a few steps back. She placed her hands on her hips and straightened herself out, feeling a crack spreading throughout her back.

So...what would she do? She could see the others watching her carefully, waiting for her signal. She could tell that they wanted to know what she had found. Did she want to tell them that she just waisted their time? There was nothing here to really indicate that this was any sort of clue. All she knew from this is that someone had fallen down and...

Hmm...wait a minute... The markings from whoever had fallen down..they did seem a little bit on the small side, didn’t they? So this person had to be young. Or some really small adult. She could feel her heart burning up for a brief moment. She managed to shake it off and she pressed on forward, gritting her teeth as she moved around, getting closer to the trail where that indentation in the ground came from. Her eyes stared intently, looking for any sign of footprints. Once she managed to locate one, she immediately moved over as quickly as possible, momentarily forgetting about the whole ‘preserve the tracks’ thing she was so keen on earlier.

She stared at the footprint once she was within range closely. She peered in closely and tried to make out the details of the foot. The very first thing that she noticed is that the footprint looked very small. Like, even without the snow, it still would have been small. That alone was telling, giving her more proof that this person was either a child or a small adult.

But what was the most revealing was what she had found a few moments later.

Though it was very faint, near impossible to see, she could tell that there were marks moving along on the print, where the underfoot design would be. She realized, almost two seconds later, that she recognized what these were. She had seen them several times during the winter last year. She could never forget them.

Feeling her heart nearly stop beating, forgetting that her husband and Mrs. Sanchez were watching, she quickly gripped her mouth with her hands, letting out a loud gasp. She took a step backward, nearly tripping over her own feet, her chest inflating and deflating rapidly. Her mind felt like it was spinning around in circles and she felt so dizzy, so fluttery as though she was going to fall off of her feet at any given moment.

Under her breath, she whispered one thing.

“Rudy...”


	3. Part 3

“Millie..?” Mr. Tabootie called out as he stared at his wife below. He could feel his heart starting to speed up a little as Millie seemed to continue to ignore him. He bit his lip firmly, struggling to keep himself under control. Why was she taking so long to answer him? He cupped his hands together and took a risk to shout louder, “Millie!”

Mrs. Sanchez took position beside him and joined in, “Did you find anything?”

It took a few more vocal tries to get Mrs. Tabootie to look up at them. They could see that she was still holding her hands to her mouth, as though she discovered something awful. But she had gone silent for what felt like several minutes, whispering something under her breath that they weren’t able to hear. The sight of this made Mr. Tabootie’s heart sting in horror as he thought of just what could be wrong.

After working up the courage to speak again, he asked, “M-Millie... What did... What’s wrong...?” He licked his lips and swallowed hard before he leaned in a little closer. “Please, you’ve got to tell us.”

Mrs. Tabootie just stared at him for several long moments, looking as though she honest to gawd had nothing that she could say. Her mind was spinning around and she continuously looked about like she was going to be attacked. When she finally looked back up at her husband, her expression had not changed. “I..I found... I-I think I found...”

Mr. Tabootie motioned his hand slowly, trying to get his wife to speak up more. “Yes? What did you find?”

Mrs. Tabootie lowered her gaze, her eyes staring into what appeared to be nothingness. Then she said, “I found evidence that... The person here? They were Rudy...”

Mr. Tabootie immediately gasped in shock at this. He stared at his wife with widening eyes. He could feel them wanting to roll out in disbelief at this news. He felt his jaws go slack and he could hear Mrs. Sanchez gasp as well. He once more looked at the ground and then peered what was below him, and a dizzying click could be made in his head. If Rudy was indeed here....

It all came crashing down inside of his head. Flashes appeared in his mind, seeing the evidence all around him. Rudy had been trying to climb up here, hadn’t he? Then he fell down and then something happened below and....

He could feel a sickening feeling starting to overwhelm him. He grabbed onto his stomach and rubbed it firmly. But it was hard to relax as this all but confirmed that they had all feared. If someone did find Rudy and brought him to safety, then they would have gotten word on that. They would surely have reported it. But he and Millie had found absolutely nothing on that. None of the news reported it. There was just....not a thing.

Which could only mean that whoever was here, when they found Rudy, they had taken him. Not to help him, but to keep him somewhere for whatever reason. And he, Mrs. Sanchez, and Millie all knew who would do something like that with such a young child.

Terry.

And of course Vinnie, whom was likely with the woman right now, if he heard the reports right. There was at least a possibility unless his memory failed him.

Yeah it had to be Vinnie. He was the only other adult that he recalled that had been ranting about some ‘world of chalk’ like Terry had, and the footprints below clearly indicated someone else was there. Two people, plus that form on the ground. The form that he realized had belonged to his son.

He gritted his teeth tightly as he felt his head continue to spin, trying to comprehend this information. They now had proof that Rudy had been there, proof that Rudy was kidnapped. But what were they going to do with this information? They couldn’t report it; they would get in trouble for tresspassing. But they had to do something... They couldn’t...

He had to wonder. Could the footprints lead to where Rudy was? Were there any markings in the snow? Anything those two idiots, or Terry if it was just her, had forgotten to cover up?

He knew that there was only one way to tell for certain.

“Millie!” Mr. Tabootie called out. His sudden shout startled Mrs. Sanchez, who nearly jolted away from him. He offered her a silent apology before saying to his wife, “Find out where those footprints lead. Let us know if there’s a trail. If there is, we can follow it and find our son.” He glanced at Mrs. Sanchez. “Penny, too.”

Hopefully, this would indeed lead them to their children.

sss

How long had that child been clinging to her? How long had she been holding onto him, trying to get him to calm down? It honestly did feel like it was forever ago, causing her to fill up with frustration. Yet she still managed to keep herself calm and keep herself settled down and patient during the whole thing.

Though it had ended a little while ago, she could still feel the boy clinging to her. She could still feel his hands gripping her and his tears staining her shirt. She wanted so much to brush it off, but she tried to keep herself still and calm. She didn’t want to make herself look as though she had lost it. She didn’t want to give Rudy any more reason to become suspicious. So instead, she just smiled at him the best that she could.

“Do you feel better now, Rudy?” Terry asked carefully.

The boy sniffled once, but managed to nod his head slowly. “Y-Yeah...” He squeaked out softly.

“That’s good.” Terry fell silent for a moment as he tried to think of just how she was going to continue. She knew that she had to be very careful with how she handled this situation, or else she might accidentally make Rudy more.... What’s the word... uncertain of her.

She had seen the look in his eyes earlier. She had seen the way that he had stiffened up and stared at her, that flicker in his eyes. She had seen how he seemed prepared to start blaming her and Vinnie, how he was close to snapping regarding them not letting him see his parents. She remembered the fear that she and Vinnie had started to feel, with the prospect of Rudy potentially turning against them. While much of it was still related to not wanting their plan to fail, at least with her, there was something else.

For whatever reason, there was a part of her that...didn’t want Rudy to lose trust in her. A part of her wanted her to keep up the relation with him, to keep him having faith in her. She didn’t fully understand why and yet she did. It was a weird combination that she wasn’t able to make full sense of. She tried to shake off the weird feeling, but it still clung to her, like a desperate crap trying to get a perch on a rock.

She at least managed to get her attention back to where it needed to be. At least Rudy had calmed down now, save for a few sniffles. He looked uncomfortable to say the least, and a bit guilty-looking. Perhaps the statement she and Vinnie had made about his parents getting in trouble had sunk in a little further than they thought. Neither of them actually believed that Rudy’s parents would get into trouble. But it was the only thing that they could think of saying that would at least by them a little more time. No doubt Rudy could try again soon. But at least this would keep contact from happening at least for a little while.

Vinnie spoke up, nearly startling Terry as she had to fight to keep herself from jolting from his loud voice. “I know you are still upset about this. We are as well. But...we’ll...make it up to you, somehow.”

Rudy looked over at Vinnie, his eyes reflecting something close to....hope perhaps? “Really...?” The boy whispered softly. “You will?”

Vinnie nodded his head affirmatively. “Oh sure! Won’t we, Terry?” Vinnie turned to stare at the redhaired woman.

Terry was a little taken offguard by this. But she soon shook it off and she nodded in response. “Yeah. We’ll....think of something.” Terry flinched very faintly at just how awkward that all sounded.

But Rudy seemed to buy it just fine. “All right....” His voice sounded pretty faint and weak. It was clear that he had run out of energy to keep arguing with them. He was not going to try to fight with them anymore. At least, not for now. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh no no no... You don’t have to be sorry.” Terry said as she reached out towards him, putting her hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right. Vinnie and I should have just been more clear is all. It’s fine.”

Rudy looked like he was trying to smile. But he could only just barely manage a crack. He soon looked away.

Terry frowned slightly at this, but said nothing. What more was there to say? At least Rudy was not going to keep asking them about seeing his parents for the time being. So that was a plus, wasn’t it? She just...needed to keep her head together. Rudy would be fine and he would keep trusting them. Everything was pointed right in that direction.

So the issue now was... well, it hadn’t really changed. They needed to figure out what to do from here. What should be their next move? What should be the direction they should go now? Remembering something that she and Vinnie had talked about earlier, she decided to break the silence with the next question.

“Hey, do you think that you could help us figure out a good location for the amusement park?” Terry asked, raising her hand up in gesture. “I know we talked about it earlier, but I don’t think we’ve ever decided on a location.”

“I don’t think we have. Hmm...” Vinnie furrowed his eyes a little. He squeezed his hand shut as he placed his chin against it, going into deep thought. He stayed like this for several moments before he lifted his head up and said, “You know that world better than we do, Rudy. How about you give us some suggestions?”

Rudy didn’t look or sound as though he wanted to talk about this now. It was of no surprise, really. Rudy would probably need a bit more time before he’s fully back to himself, or rather, the himself that they knew and came to ‘create’ of sorts. If that made any sense.

Rudy took a bit of time before he eventually said something. “Well, I think I do know of one particular location that could work...”

sss

Snap would have preferred if he and his friends still got some time to rest, some time to calm down. Their minds were still reeling from what had happened recently and he wasn’t interested in seeing anyone else for the time being.

Especially Rudy.

It wasn’t that he hated Rudy, but it was becoming more and more frustrating to see him how he was right now. He could feel his heart twisting and yanking at the mere thought of what was happening with him. He tried to keep himself as calm as possible about it. But he could continue feeling his stomach burning up inside and he could feel his head spinning around in circles. He struggled to keep that under control.

But as soon as he could hear the foot steps coming down, he immediately felt his body stiffen up. He moved his arms around Rapsheeba once more and held onto her protectively. He bared his teeth in the direction of the shadow forming on the wall. He didn’t care which one was coming down; he wanted them to be sure that they weren’t going to get their hands on Rapsheeba that easily.

The fact that it turned out to be Rudy didn’t cause him to let up that much. In fact, if anything, it started to make him feel worse. He growled lowly, pulling Rapsheeba closer. Penny remained silent, but she glared off at Rudy with a look of....not really disgust per say, but disappointment. It was obvious from her expression that she was unhappy with what’s been going on.

Rudy took notice of their glares and he stopped in his tracks. He stared at them for several moments, looking quite confused and uncomfortable. This staring lasted for a while, and it felt as though ages were passing by.

But rather than start to speak with them, Rudy eventually just frowned back at them and continued to move away from them. He was headed off in the same areae that he had taken Rapsheeba to before. Perhaps he was just leaving to bring them more food and water, or perhaps he had something else in mind. Who knows what Vinnie and Terry had planned for him to do.

Snap felt a small sting in his gut as he realized that Rudy had left without saying anything. He could understand to some extent, with how he and Penny were glaring at him. But he thought that he would have at least said something. And then he returned a glare of his own... Snap didn’t really know how to feel about that, or any of this regarding Rudy.

He didn’t want to be this angry with Rudy, this frustrated. But good gawd, didn’t he understand what was happening to him? He was acting as though he and Penny were being difficult, but he was ignoring the fact that Vinnie and Terry had tried to cause damage to ChalkZone before. They didn’t care about its well being and Rudy should know this. He did know at one point. So why was he just....dismissing all of that now? What was he hoping to accomplish from this?

Snap had a feeling he knew what was going on. Rudy was starting to run away from the issues, in a sense. He was pretending, acting as though it was nothing serious or not as conflicting as it actually was. He was deluding himself into believing that Penny and Snap were the difficult ones while forcing himself to believe that Terry and Vinnie were not as bad as he had initially thought. Rudy didn’t want to be wrong and he was struggling so hard to prevent that sharp feeling of being wrong from striking his heart.

What a coward.

Snap flinched when he thought that. He never dreamed that he would think something like that about his friend. Or.... Or was Rudy even a friend anymore...?

Snap shook the thought out of his head. He didn’t want to think that Rudy had stopped being their friend. He tried to shift his thoughts a little more, trying to get himself to realize that, in a strange sense, Rudy still considered himself their friend. He was just....misguided right now. Confused with the onslaught of that fucking brainwashing that Terry and Vinnie had put upon him. How could he blame Rudy for not knowing what was happening to him?

And yet at the same time, that’s what was so infuriating about this. Rudy should know better, and yet he and Penny couldn’t seem to make him see that. To him, they were just trying to confuse him. He had been with Terry and Vinnie for so long, without any input from them. His mind had been made weak and was molded. If there was any semblance of the Rudy that they knew, it was currently buried underneath all of this mess.

He felt his body stiffen briefly and he looked over his shoulder to stare over at Penny. She stared down at him with a sympathetic expression. She remained this way for several moments, silently comforting him. Though Snap could feel himself starting to feel slightly better, it wasn’t enough to make him completely better. He could feel his grip on Rapsheeba tighten slightly.

“We’ll get him back.” Penny’s voice sliced through the silence. It seemed to echo across the room, making its message seem all the more stronger.

Snap stared at Penny at this. He then managed to force a smile. It must look pretty weak and he could feel himself shaking and his smile weakening. But he still managed to keep it up regardless. He did still appreciate what Penny was trying to do and trying to hold onto hope was all that they could do right now.

However his happiness, whatever there was, was short lived when he could hear Rapsheeba start to whimper. Frowning deeply, Snap turned to glare at whoever was coming down those steps, silently preparing for whoever was coming down.

Ah of course it would be these two idiots. Terry and Vinnie. He wondered what they wanted right now, he thought sarcastically. As if he didn’t already know...

“If you’re wondering, Rudy will be back shortly. If you want to speak with him, you will have to wait.” Vinnie said as he folded his arms to his chest.

Snap snorted at this. As though they really needed him to tell them something... He shook his head a few times before shooting a sharp glare back at the horrid man. “You fucking stay away from us! Especially Rapsheeba! If you touch her again, I will....!”

“Oh ain’t that sweet...” Vinnie sneered. “Nice to see that you care about your girlfriend so much.” Snap’s eyes widened at this before narrowing, his throat rumbling with a growl. “But don’t worry. I don’t plan on doing anything with her again.”

Rapsheeba turned her head just enough to see Vinnie out of the corner of her eyes. It was clear that she didn’t believe him and she huddled closer to Snap. At this, Snap held onto her carefully as he hissed back at Vinnie, “You’re just saying that to lower our guard.”

Vinnie sighed and raised his hand up. “No, I’m being serious. Terry’s made me sworn not to touch her again.”

Terry glared at Vinnie. “You know that it would create more problems than it solved. I permitted it at first, but we managed to get the information we needed anyway, and from someone else.” She gave a stare at Penny and Snap, the two of them cringing slighlty from the implications. Terry gave a small smirk. “Hurting her now would only result in Rudy being upset. And we can’t have him upset, can we?”

Penny moved forward and pushed herself up against the bars. “You monsters will pay for what you have done to our friend! You won’t get away with this!”

“Oh how cliche...” Terry waved her hand dismissively. “You can say that all that you want to, but Rudy is ours now and there isn’t anything you can do about that.”

Vinnie nodded his head, sneering. “Once he gets out of that portal, he will have found us a place to put in the amusement park and we will set forward with our plans.”

“You’re still on about that?!” It wasn’t like Snap was all that surprised, but it was still horrifying to contemplate.

“Oh yes...” Terry took a few steps forward. “It would seem that, despite your efforts, we have won. We will get exactly what we deserve and there isn’t a think that you can do about it.”

Snap, Penny, and Rapsheeba could only stare at them with a mixture of horror and dread.

sss

Why had he agreed to do this? Why hadn’t he tried harder to do things his way? Heck, why had he followed those fucking red zoners at all? At least he would have been out of this situation.

And yet here he was, stuck as Biclop’s little helper.

Well, he supposed it was, in some way, better than having to continue to listen to the red zoners, whom Biclops had been able to overwhelm. They were both currently restrained with rope. The window-like one was easy to control. After all, just how fucking hard was it to control a little window that had no arms? The large chicken was harder with its massive bulk and fire spewing powers. But Biclops was able to handle that, too, albeit with a little bit of struggling.

Skrawl hadn’t said much at the moment. He was situated in front of Biclops, unable to leave. He could try of course, but he would not get very far. He would end up trapped quickly; the massive zoner was so close that if he tried to move even a step back, he could easily find himself struck and crushed underneath the weight of the massive hand. It would be wise not to try to run off.

But he was not comfortable here and he felt himself still struggling, fighting, to keep himself from doing anything too crazy. He found it difficult to hold still and he could feel his own heart pounding in his chest. He had faced Biclops in the past, but he had always had the Beanie Boys with him. Being this close to the giant without help was....rather unnerving.

Biclops narrowed his vertical eyes, looking displeased. It was clear that he was just as unhappy about this situation as he was. But Biclops knew that there was little that could be done and he had no choice but to go along with this. Sucking in a deep breath and letting out a small sigh, Biclops said softly, “You do understand your situation, right?”

Skrawl turned his head to the side. “Oh of course.... You want me to help find Rudy Tabootie somehow....”

“Well, you are supposed to be smart, right?” Asked Biclops. A small sneer spread along his face, showing just how smug the giant zoner was being right now. “Come now, I know you can use your intellect to figure this out, right? I mean after all...” He made a quick motion with his hand. “You did manage to create a zoner, didn’t you? Fully sentient as well, capable of speech and everything. Rather impressive!”

Skrawl would usually take this as a compliment. But coming from Biclops, he couldn’t help but wonder if it was intended as an insult. Regardless, he still folded his arms and nodded his antenna-covered head. “You bet I am impressive! I....” He suddenly paused as he realized what Biclops was trying to do. He snarled lowly as he took a step forward. “Oh no... You can’t use that against me... I will tell you right now, I will not fall for that so easily. Yes I am a genius, but trying to find someone on the other side of a portal is not that easy.”

Biclops nodded his head and hummed lowly. It was hard to tell if he was taking his comment all that seriously. “Yeah, you can keep saying that if you’d like, but...” He tilted his head to the side. “You cannot tell me that you wouldn’t love to prove people, doubters, wrong. You don’t want people to say that you’re a failure, that you can’t do something. So why not just do it?”

Skrawl could feel his stomach churning at this realization. He knew exactly the kind of mind game that Skrawl was pulling and he tried to fight against it. He tried as hard as he could to resist and not to be pulled in by this.

But the more he struggled, the harder that it became. He could already feel his mental grip weakening, and his desire to prove himself burned inside of his stomach. He could feel his hands tightening and his body shaking. He could feel his head filling with many rapidly moving thoughts and he struggled to breathe in and out at a rapid pace. He could feel the desire to vomit rising in his throat and he swallowed hard, tasting the bile. He was surprised that his skull hadn’t burned due to his fiery insides.

He couldn’t resist for much longer. He couldn’t keep fighting back and try to act as though he could ignore this. He couldn’t stop himself from moving closer to Biclops, trying to look defiant. He tried not to let himself look like a gawd damn fool as he raised his claw and pointed accusingly at Biclops before hissing something underneath his breath.

“You are such an idiot, Biclops. Do you really think, do you honestly believe, that I would waste my time doing this? I am happy that Rudy is gone! I can take over this world easily without him trying to meddle around with things!” Skrawl declared. He raised his voice as he kept going. “So go chew on that!”

“Oh Skrawl...” Biclops shook his head. “I was expecting a better comeback from you.”

Skrawl hissed at this. Though begrudgingly, he had to agree. He really didn’t put up much of an argument with that, now did he? If anything, he only seemed to further validate what Biclops had been saying, doing little to... Skrawl shook the thought out of his head. He didn’t want to keep thinking about that. Instead he just gritted his teeth and said, “But why do you want my help?”

“Originally, I didn’t. But since you’re here, I think that I coudl get a good use out of you.” Biclops raised his hand up in the air. “I mean, like I said before, you’re smart. Quite smart actually. I would imagine that you, out of everyone, would be able to figure out exactly how to find Rudy and Penny and Snap and Rapsheeba.”

“Don’t get your tongue tied.” Skrawl chuckled lightly, getting the first bit of humor that he’s got since he had first arrived here. But after smirking for a moment, he shifted his gaze to one side. “But regardless, this still wouldn’t be a simple task. It would require a lot of work to even get started, and that’s if I could even figure out enough details.”

Biclops nodded his massive head slowly in understanding. “I imagined as such. That was why I was willing to give you your own work space. Monitored of course, but it would give you something to start with, and the time and quietness that...”

“Okay, okay, I get it!” Skrawl cut off the giant, raising up his hand and waving dismissively. He ignored the giant’s glare down at him but Biclops didn’t try to say anything else to him. Skrawl said, “So I would get my own work space as you put it, to come up with a plan to find Rudy?” At the giant’s nod, he added, “Well that’s convenient... But I have to wonder if it’ll work for me...”

“Don’t try to bargain with me, Skrawl. If you aren’t willing to help, then I could simply get rid of you.” There was some tremblingness in his voice, suggesting that Biclops didn’t actually want to do this. But he still sounded firm and still narrowed his eyes, showing that he wasn’t going to just back down from this so easily, even with his doubt in place. “If you are not going to act like a team memember, then I will treat you accordingly. Keep in mind that I am being generous right now. I could easily rip you apart and pretend you never existed....”

Skrawl couldn’t help but gulp at this. He wasn’t sure if Biclops would have done anything. But the prospect of it, the very idea... It was still enough to be unnerving.

“So maybe you should stop acting all privileged, grow up, and do some good for ChalkZone for once.” Biclops didn’t sound like he exactly believed his own words. But he supposed this was related to desperation. If Rudy was gone for that long then of course Biclops would be willing to do whatever it took to bring him back. Even if it means trusting him.

Skrawl couldn’t really think of any other reason to resist. What was the point, really? He was a fool to come here without his Beanie Boys and he was too close to the giant to really try to resist or try to run. He’d be smacked before he got that far.

So he only really had one option.

“Alright.. if I help you...” Skrawl asked cautiously. “What do I get?”

Biclops blinked at this a few times. “Why are you asking?”

Skrawl narrowed his eyes. “I will not help you unless I get something in return...”

sss

Okay so just how was he going to do this? Where should he start? He didn’t exactly have too much of a plan when he came in. He should have been more truthful earlier. He would have had at least a bit more time to think about this. Why didn’t he try to tell Vinnie and Terry about....

Well there was nothing that he could do about it now. He was here in ChalkZone and he had to make good on his promise. He did tell Terry and Vinnie that he would find some suitable place to put that amusement park and he wasn’t going back until he did.

A small part of him did feel a bit strange doing this. It didn’t feel that long ago that he had kicked Vinnie out of ChalkZone for trying to actually pull that shit. But now the circumstances had changed so much and....

He shook his head, trying not to think about it too much. He wasn’t going to get too far if he kept thinking about the past. He struggled to cope with his emotions as he continued moving forward slowly. He kept his body hunched and he tried to move as quietly as possible. He did not want a repeat of what happened last time, and he still wanted to keep his presence here limited.

Or rather, Rudy would just rather not have the zoners he was coming. Not yet anyway. That was why he had drawn himself an invisibility cloak to help him move along and study the area around him, trying to find any place that would help him out. He tried so hard to see if any piece of land here was worth it and he tried to see just what area really would be the best. He replayed his thoughts over and over again as he tried to think of just how this plan could be perfected.

He needed a place that was away from most other zoners, right? He needed something that was isolated and sturdy and secure. He needed a place that would be tough for people to bypass through even if they did manage to somehow break the barrier of the amusement park. He needed something that was massive, big enough to support a huge amount of people. A place that was likely to be affected as easily by the rapidly changing environment of ChalkZone. That was something that Vinnie and Terry did not understand or realize. Huge changes were plausible in that world and if they wanted to minimize damage...

He shook his head rapidly as he shifted his attention to one side. He thought he recognized this particular type of plant, but the more that he stared at it, the more that he relaized that it was something else entirely. A shame. He thought he had started to figure out something that he could do.

But wait... Maybe it had. This might not be the plant he was hoping for, but there was another one quite like it. Only larger and wider and thicker... Memories flooded through his mind as he could feel his brain taking him back to that horrible incident sometime ago regarding the tiny red bats and the disease that they spread, balloonemia. There was a particular type of forest that he and his friends had to go through. His mind’s gears rapidly turned and it didn’t take him long to realize what the name of that place was.

The Impenetrable Forest.

Rudy felt his body stiffen once before it seemed to just suddenly relax. He stared at the ground, feeling his breathing increasing and decreasing rapidly. He could feel his heart racing along with it as he placed his hand against his chest. He stayed like this for a few moments before releasing a deep exhale. He tried to settle himself down, but he was just so excited that he...

This could be it, right? This could be exactly what he was looking for. That place had everything that he needed. It was in a good location. Far from most zoners. There weren’t many zoners in the place anyway. The walls were nice and thick and were tough to get through. He imagined that most people wouldn’t think to do what he had done to get in. It was perfect.

Or rather, almost. He realized that it might not be the exact best location, even if it did check out in most areas. There was one particular thing that could be a huge problem if not addressed properly, however. And that thing regarded some of the zoners that did live there. For instance, the goolah monster.

Rudy could feel his heart skipping a few beats at the thought of someone winding up getting hurt encountering that thing. That creature was massive and strong and willing to just eat anything in its path. It would be difficult to tame, if that was a plausibility at all, and he also had to remember that most people wouldn’t even guess what its weakness was.

And then there were those singing trees that would put anyone near it under its spell. Granted, it might not be as bad as, say, the goolah monster eating peeople. But it would still be dangerous in its own right. Especially if it managed to exhaust people to the point of.... He didn’ t want to think about it.

Rudy tried get moving, now knowing what his destination was. He had some difficulty however, given that he had to practically dance around some of the zoners in this area. Well the only two, anyway. They had come out of nowhere and they were certainly complicating things. But he should be fine so long as he just moved around them and just kept on going.

He moved faster. He struggled to keep up a good pace. He kept his eyes on those two zoners, and he could see them zipping by. He hurried himself along and then...

Rudy suddenly felt himself hitting against something hard and firm. He had made a turn and wasn’t looking at where he was going. A mistake that he should have been able to easily avoid. He shook his head and took a few steps back. He looked up as he rubbed his head, staring at whoever he had bumped into.

His eyes immediately widened. Oh no.... Not him.... Not right now... Rudy licked his lips slowly and gulped. He took a few steps back from the large zoner, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. He struggled to breathe, struggled to get a hold of himself, struggled to just... He could not think of any way to continue his thoughts except to just...

Run.

Rudy began to back up really quickly, trying to put in distance between him and this large zoner. He watched as the zoner slowly turned around and spotted him. He watched as those horrid eyes flickered and the zoner realized that he was there. Rudy froze for only a moment but then continued to back the fuck away. He needed to get out of here before it was too late.

“Rudy Tabootie...” Skrawl cooed mockingly as he turned around completely to face Rudy. The massive zoner’s broad smile became big and twisted and his teeth were exposed in a grin. “I have been looking for you. Why don’t you make things easier and just come along with me?”

Rudy couldn’t answer, no matter how hard that he tried. He soon shook his head and he took a few more steps back.

Skrawl just chuckled at this, as though he had expected some difficulties. He moved in closer to Rudy, raising his one hand up, his claws flexing excitedly. “I don’t see why you’re so worried. It’s not like I’m going to hurt you....much.” Skrawl continued to move closer to Rudy, uncaring that he was forcing the child to back up. “Come on now, Biclops wants to see you.”

Rudy froze at this. His eyes widened, his thoughts spinning around. He wasn’t able to stay fully silent at this. Instead, he squeaked out, “B-B-Biclops...?”

“Oh yes.” Skrawl nodded his head affirmatively. “He sent me to find you, because he could not trust the red chalk zoners to do it.”

“He sent red chalk zoners...?”

“Yes, and now he’s sent me. All to find you.”

“What....”

“So perhaps you should give in before he gets even more drastic.”

Rudy could feel his head clamoring about inside, his brain feeling as though it was rattling. His legs grew incredibly weak and it was such a pain to just stand up. He ended up wobbling about from side to side as he tried to make sense of this all. He grabbed onto his head and held onto it, his teeth gritting tightly. He felt himself wobbling from side to side, and it took a bit for him to shake it all off and relax.

What in the world had he... What was going on here...? Why was Biclops trying to... A part of him wanted to believe that Biclops was just worried about him and wanted to speak to him, ask what was going on. His friends were worried as well and that’s why they tried to stop him earlier.

But to hire the red chalk zoners...? To hire the ruthless Skrawl...? Was Biclops really just worried about him, or did he get tired of Rudy? Did he start to think that Rudy was too dangerous? Was Biclops trying to...

Rudy shook his head, not willing to believe it. No, there was more to this than what he thought was going on. There was more happening than what Skrawl was trying to tell him. He refused to fall for Skrawl’s little trap. He knew exactly how he could be. He knew that Skrawl would say anything if it meant gaining some kind of foothold somewhere. And if he allowed himself to fall for this...

Rudy shook his head once, snapping himself out of that state and glared intently at Skrawl. The two nemesises just glared at each other intently, their bodies tense, moving around each other slowly a bit, getting ready to make a move, waiting for the other to do something. Rudy could feel the air around them going tense and thick, and he found it increasingly difficult to move his eyes away from Skrawl.

He quickly realized just how dangerous Skrawl was going to be. If more people were to come here, would that not increase the chances of Skrawl getting a hold of a creator? Sure, he could try to block him out via the walls in the Impenetrable Forest to try to slow him down in some shape or form. But what if it did not work? What if Skrawl were still able to get inside? What if he were to get what he wanted and ChalkZone would be...

Rudy scolded himself for not realizing this danger until now. Well, not that he didn’t know something like this could happen. But he should have tried harder sooner to do something about this. He should have known that Skrawl would...

He wondered if Vinnie and Terry would understand if he said that it was best to wait. He wondered, if he told them just how dangerous it was to open up an amusement park right now, how dangerous Skrawl was, if they would understand. He really had no idea and a part of him wondered just how a good idea it was to tell them. But they did want his advice, right? They did want him to be honest with them. And even if that honesty would delay things...would they not rather want that instead of....

Rudy’s thoughts trailed off completely as he took one more look at Skrawl and, instead of engaging him like the jellybean expected, he turned and made a run for it. Rudy ignored the shouts behind as he kept running.

sss

Mrs. Sanchez could feel herself breathing in and out rapidly as she struggled to think of just what she was going to do about this. The information that Mrs. Tabootie had just given was so crucial...and yet here she still stood, with all of them, unsure of just what they were going to do next.

She replayed that bit of information over and over again and her head started to hurt. It seemed to all just happen so suddenly, so out of nowhere, that she just...couldn’t...

Eventually she shook her head and stared intently at Mrs. Tabootie, blinking slowly a few times. She licked her lips slowly and she finally managed to speak after being silent for a bit too long.

“Are you....serious...?”

Mrs. Tabootie nodded her head. “There’s no mistaking what I saw. There was blood there, and the footprints changed a bit. I can only suspect that whoever found Rudy had....hurt him and taken him away.” Mrs. Tabootie’s eyes furrowed in deeply, her teeth exposed in a snarl. “Even if this isn’t the work of Terry, whoever had done this, they’re certainly not our friends.”

Mr. Tabootie glanced at his wife nervously. “And you think that Penny was....?”

“It is possible that she was taken by this same person.” Mrs. Tabootie let out a distressed sigh, her eyes shutting lightly. “I’m not really sure exactly how they would have done it.” She reopened her eyes and looked back at the other two. “But you heard what the principal had said. No one had seen Penny after some point in school, meaning that this person had to have figured out a way to grab her during a moment when no one was looking. They had to be a huge strategist and....”

“..and we know that Terry Bouffant is good that.” Mrs. Sanchez said solemnly.

“Precisely.” Mrs. Tabootie nodded her head. “I have a feeling that Vinnie Raton might be good at this as well.” She seemed to take quick notice of how the others were looking at her. She didn’t relent. “There were two sets of footprints there, and both of them are nutcases about the same thing. Some fabled world of chalk. You know that our children told us about this before.” She raised her hand up in gesture, motioning to them. “If these two share the same interests, would it be of any surprise that they came together?”

Mrs. Sanchez went silent for a moment, thinking about what Mrs. Tabootie had just said. She was taken aback, shocked by this turn of events. She could feel her head spinning around and she rubbed it carefully, her teeth pressing against one another. She had a bit of a hard time fully registering this.

It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Mrs. Tabootie. It did make a lot of sense, actually. But there was just something...different about having suspicions confirmed. And she could feel a sudden rush of adrenaline that just burned her up inside and she felt her body shaking. She struggled to keep herself standing up, feeling her logs wobbling slightly. Was it mostly due to the cold or due to emotion? It was difficult to say.

But it would seem that Mr. Tabootie thought differently.

“I had a feeling that those two were involved. That’s part of why I asked you to follow the trail.” Mr. Tabootie said. His expression filled with worry. “It is a pity that you weren’t able to find them.” He lowered his head for a moment before he lifted it back up to stare at the large woman that was his wife. “You did find more evidence of foul play, right?”

“Some blood, like I told you.” Mrs. Tabootie took a moment to stare over at Mrs. Sanchez. Her face flinched for a moment and she looked.... It was hard to explain her face at this point. “But I wasn’t able to find anything regarding Penny.”

Mrs. Sanchez felt her heart clench tightly. That was not good news. That meant that Penny might not be with them at all. Without any evidence...

Oh what was she thinking? Just because there was nothing doesn’t mean that they couldn’t find something later. She shook her head and she formed a small fist with her hand. She just knew that Terry had something to do with her daughter. There was no way that it could have been anything else. Terry, as well as Vinnie, both had vendettas against their children. They were told of us a while back when Rudy was kidnapped. They had wanted to know if there were any other adults like Terry, and both Rudy and Penny had named Vinnie.

She couldn’t wait until she got her hands on Terry. She couldn’t wait until she was able to give Terry exactly what she deserved. She gritted her teeth tightly together as she had burning thoughts of what she might do if given the chance. Perhaps they were a bit too much... But at the moment, she didn’t care. Just as long as she...

“We should head out that way.” Mrs. Tabootie said as she pointed her finger in one direction. “I do believe that they headed off that way. If we follow, we might be able to find where they are hiding.”

Mr. Tabootie frowned at her for a moment. “You mean, you didn’t find out where...”

Mrs. Tabootie shook her head. “I was going out too far. I wanted to give you an update before I reached a point where...” Mrs. Tabootie soon shook her head, trying to clear her head of those thoughts. “Nevermind that now. Let’s just get going.”

None of them said another word after that. They glanced at each other briefly, giving each other a small nod, before they headed out. They began to treck up where Mrs. Tabootie had gone, retracing her steps. They remained as quiet as possible, trying to remain determined. If their children were out there somewhere...

sss

“But you can’t do that!”

“And why not?”

“We told you for the thousandth time! It will cause too many problems in ChalkZone! You can’t just...”

“It’s already being taken care of.”

“But..!”

“....do you really have this little faith in your friend? I thought you cared about him.”

“....th-that’s....not...”

Terry stared off towards the ceiling as Penny and Snap’s voices faded into the air. It didn’t really take much deduction to realize that they could not really think of anything to say to that. They could not think of just how they were going to respond to her question.

And of course not. They weren’t really thinking things through, were they? The two of them were too busy being locked in their own emotions to see what was really going on. They refused to see that Rudy was doing this on his own accord. Sure she and Vinnie had...helped that along. But it wasn’t like Rudy couldn’t just....try to leave when he was in ChalkZone. He had the chance, right? And he could flee, right? But he always came back.

Really, Rudy was happy with them and it wasn’t like she and Vinnie were rushing into ChalkZone. They had seen the benefit of working with the child and they had begun plans on bringing their dream to a reality, but under Rudy’s advisement. She and Vinnie still won of course, but it just seemed that Penny and Snap were blowing this up more than it needed to be.

But fine, if these two wanted to keep playing it rough, then she was more than happy to return it right back at them. While Vinnie was busy fixing something for Penny to eat and drink while Rudy was away, Terry decided to keep an eye on these three and meet with Rudy when he came back. And perhaps she could use that time to try to make them shut up once and for all.

She chuckled bitterly at this. Like hell they were going to listen that easily... But she still had that trump card with Penny, and she had already brought it up before. Perhaps now was the time to bring it more to the forefront of everything.

She turned her head to face Penny. She was leaning against the cage, her back turned to her. Snap was still with Rapsheeba, no surprise. The three of them had gone silent by now. Perhaps they had finally given up on trying to convince her of anything. Perhaps they realized that there was no use in trying to argue with her. Perhaps...

But they still weren’t convinced, were they?

Terry began to move back towards the cage, keeping her eyes on Penny in particular. She watched as the girl leaned her head to the side and seemed to look at her with one eye, scowling. Terry just smirked.

“Are you curious about your mother’s skeletons, dear Penny..?”

Penny swerved her head even more and stared at her, confused.

Terry smiled at the way that Penny was looking her. She remained silent for a little bit, letting Penny take a nice, long look at her, allowing those words to settle inside of her head. Only when she was certain that Penny understood what she was saying did she continue, “I recall you seemed curious before. You were wondering just what kind of dirt I have about your mother that could ruin you.”

Penny’s eyes flickered in horror and she immediately tensed up. She moved back, looking as though she was going to strike out at Terry at any moment. “What do you have against my mother....” She asked, her voice deep and demanding.

Terry toyed with the idea of just letting Penny remain in the dark. It was a lot more fun this way. She could make Penny assume the worst about her mom, the worst of their situation in general. And this would be a lot more effective at keeping her quiet than flat out telling her.

Besides, the result of telling a secret was always disappointing, wasn’t it? So often, this was the case. Such a shame, too. But that’s just how it was and there was nothing that could be done to change that fact. Instead of complaining about it, she just rolled with it. She would keep this exciting for her and terrifying for Penny. Even if Penny asked Rudy, he wouldn’t know either, and same with Vinnie. The skeleton that Mrs. Sanchez was hiding was her own dirty little secret.

“Oh I have nothing against her really.” Terry said in an almost innocent-sounding voice. She put her hands to herself and turned her head to one side. “Why, I would be upset to see if anything had actually happened to her. Wouldn’t that be a shame?”

Penny’s body trembled. She grabbed onto the bars tighlty and started to yank them back and forth, or at least, try to. “You leave her out of this, you hear me?!”

“But genius girl...” Terry said as she stared down at Penny with a bottom corner of her eye. “Your mommy’s dilemma is yours as well.” Penny froze at this, but she still frowned at Terry. “If your mom’s secret is out, then you would be out of luck as well. Do you think anyone would trust you, the daughter of Mrs. Sanchez? The one hiding something even from you?” Penny’s eyes widened at this, fear starting to plaster over her face. “Let’s face it, Little Penita. You are this close to dipping your foot in the fire. Are you sure you want the blaze, too?”

Penny was quiet after this. She looked as though she wanted to speak, but her mouth barely moved. Her face seemed to lose a bit of its coloring and she was struggling to breathe. She turned her head down and she leaned back, deep in thought. She remained this way for the next several moments.

Terry watched in satisfaction at her handiwork. It seemed like she had gotten Penny right where she wanted her to be. She had planted the seeds of doubt. Now all she needed to do was just keep this up, keep Penny afraid, and she could use this to silence her. And perhaps it would spread to Snap. If Penny feared for herself and her mother, she might try to get Snap to be quiet as well. It just goes to show, sometimes a little blackmail goes a long way.

And whoever had said that it didn’t work?

sss

“Skrawl! Stop it!” Rudy shouted as he raised up his piece of magic chalk. He really didn’t want to have to do this. But Skrawl was giving him little reason at this point not to do something. And he was instead giving him all the reason to take action. “If you don’t stop right now, I will....!”

“You’ll what? Try to trap me again?” Skrawl scoffed. “You’ve gotten weak, boy. You’re usually better than that.” Skrawl’s words seemed to strike a chord with Rudy as he felt his stomach feel like it was sliced into by a knife. Skrawl smiled at this. “Well, this is all the more reason to get you to see Biclops. Then he will grant me what I want.”

Rudy still couldn’t believe that Biclops would bargain with someone like Skrawl. Biclops was not someone who was stupid. There was no way that he would have done that in his own mind, in his own sanity. Unless he was really desperate....

At this, Rudy felt a pang of guilt. He realized that it was partially his fault that this was happening. Biclops had bargained, made a deal with Skrawl....because of him. He was worried about him. He wanted to make sure that he was safe. Rudy couldn’t really blame Skrawl for this. It’s not like he normally tries to do this sort of thing. The jellybean wouldn’t even had the option had Rudy just told Biclops about what was going on.

He immediately flinched at that thought. Okay, that would have been a bad idea. What if instead he had told him that he was fine? Yeah, that would have worked. Then Biclops would have known that he was fine and well and everything would have been okay. He could have been a little more straight forward, tell him and his friends he was fine and that he would come back to them soon, and he could have avoided this entire mess.

Now it was too late to pull out from this, and now here he was, struggling against Skrawl, trying to fight him. Rudy was a bit rusty; he could not deny Skrawl’s words. He felt as though his reaction times were slower. His time with Terry and Vinnie, as well as not using his leg for nearly a month or more, had taken a toll on his skills.

But despite that, he still struggled the best that he could against the jellybean. He couldn’t let Skrawl get the upperhand, not even for a moment. It was just far too dangerous to even consider. If Skrawl knew what was going on...

With this causing fear to rise up inside of her, Rudy began to push back even harder, sudden, and his body rammed against Skrawl’s. The jellybean let out a small yelp as he was pushed back, but it wasn’t enough to make him go away. The jellybean stared at him in surprise before smiling at him.

“Now that’s more like it. Now you’re actually acting more like, well, you.” Skrawl didn’t really sound too happy despite his smile. Probably another attempt to try to screw with him. Rudy knew that he had to try to resist as much as possible. He couldn’t let himself be controlled in any way, shape or form by this...this monster. “It is a shame that the others can’t see you like this. Even more of a shame that I must deliver you.”

“Fat chance.” Rudy hissed at him. “I’ll give you one more warning, Skrawl. Just back down and let me....”

“Hahahaha.... You think that I would just let you walk away?! After the trouble it took me to find you?! You have got to be joking!” Skrawl sounded a little too dramatic with that statement. It was hard to tell if it was intended or not. “I’ve waited for a chance like this for far too long, chalk boy. And you are not about to ruin it for me.”

Rudy could feel his heart racing in his chest. He struggled to think of what he could do, if there was anything to make Skrawl reconsider this... and that was when something clicked in his head. “How do you know that Biclops would make good on his end? How do you know that he is going to do exactly as you say he promised to do?”

Skrawl opened his mouth to speak, only to freeze where he stood. He looked as though he were trying to figure out what to say. If he had an idea and he tried to say it, he immediately stopped himself as though another thought created a roadblock in his mind. Skrawl remained this way for several moments, struggling to speak, his voice getting caught in his throat, whatever else. It was becoming rapidly clear htat he had no response to this.

And that’s exactly what Rudy figured. He had a feeling that this ‘deal’ with Biclops was made in haste. While he still felt upset with Biclops for doing it at all, at the same time, he knew that the deal was not as sealed as Skrawl though. For all they both knew, Biclops only made this deal for however long that Rudy remained ‘missing’. The moment that Rudy were to return, then Biclops could easily just cancel his promise and leave Skrawl in the dust.

And it seemed that Skrawl had finally caught on. “Y-You’re right. He wouldn’t have...”

Rudy started to smile a little. “See? I knew that you would be able to come to your senses. Now....” Rudy attempted to try to shift things into a more civil manner. He didn’t want this to devolve into more violence if he could help it. “Why don’t we...”

Rudy gagged, taken completely off guard when Skrawl suddenly lashed out with one of his hands. Rudy’s neck was immediately squeezed tightly by said hand and he was lifted into the air, his feet dangling and kicking about. Rudy opened his mouth to try to breathe, but had very little luck in doing anything. He gripped onto the hand and glared down at the zoner before him, gritting his teeth.

Skrawl stared up at him with an expression that he could not describe. Trying to do so just made his head spin even more and he could feel his stomach churning about. He wriggled himself from side to side as he attempted to get free. But nothing he did would work. He could struggle and he could kick all that he wanted to. But he literally could do nothing to make Skrawl let go of him. Not right now.

Skrawl sneered, “I could...make him surrender to me...” Skrawl brought Rudy close to him. Those massive teeth being so close made Rudy quite uncomfortable and he tried to get away in vain. “Maybe he would be more willing to listen if his precious protector were in trouble, don’t you think?”

Rudy widened his eyes at this. He realized very quickly just what Skrawl was trying to do. He couldn’t let him do it. He had to think of a way to fight back before he could...

The young boy started to raise up his magic chalk quickly. Skrawl took immediate notice of it, his red and white eyes widening as Rudy started to move the chalk around a little. However, Skrawl was fast and he was able to swing Rudy around a little. The motion did not make the boy lose the chalk but he did temporarily lose the ability to draw right then. Rudy let out a pained grunt as he felt his body scrape along something hard. He did not realize they were that close to this tree. But...hmm... that gave him an idea.

Skrawl stared down at him with those gleaming eyes. His mouth was twisted upwards in a sort of position that looked like a cross between a smile and a snarl. It was a rather uncomfortable thing to look at and Rudy tried to avert his eyes away. But something about it forced him to remain still and just...stare.

Skrawl hissed lowly, “You are not going to ruin this for me. You and your precious chalk aren’t going to be able to stop me from getting what I want this time.” Skrawl looked intently at Rudy’s hand, licking his lips slowly as he stared at Rudy’s chalk that he still clutched. “Perhaps I should do something about that...”

Rudy could feel his blood running cold, his mind spinning. He realized in that moment that, if he were going to try anything, he would need to do it now. He turned his head just enough to look behind him and see where the tree trunk was. He realized that he was close enough and this might be his best chance that he had. He looked at Skrawl one more time before he narrowed his eyes into slits and took action.

Much to Skrawl’s confusion, the boy started to jerk himself back towards the tree. He did not free himself, but he managed to get close enough to push his foot against the tree. Then, with whatever strength that he had, he launched himself forward and knocked himself against Skrawl. The energy that he had garnered was enough to make Skrawl move backwards a tad and it was definitely enough to push the magic chalk against the jellybean’s side.

“Yeowch! What the fuck?!” Skrawl staggered back, moving his body away from the sudden, uncomfortable pressure that had struck him in his side. His grip on Rudy loosened up. “What in the world were you...?!”

Rudy took advantage of Skrawl’s disorientation and twisted himself out of his grasp. Skrawl stared in surprise, and then moved in to grab him once more, only for Rudy to kick his leg out and strike the zoner against one of his legs. With his foot hitting the zoner’s knee, that caused it to lock up. Skrawl let out a loud cry as he toppled and struggled in vain to try to keep standing up.

There was no time to waste. With Skrawl now on the ground, Rudy took this chance to try to run off. He didn’t know where to go, so he ended up just running off in one direction. He would figure out what to do later. For now, he needed to gain some distance between him and Skrawl.

He never noticed that he and Skrawl were both being watched.

sss

What the....? Was that...?

It was hard for Lazlo that he had witnessed what he just had. He had been on his way to try to gather more information and try to recruit more zoners into helping Biclops. But instead, he had stumbled upon something else.

He had been aware that Biclops was dealing with Skrawl. So seeing the jellybean was not of a huge surprise. But what he was shocked about was seeing Rudy. Just like he had before... So he really hadn’t been hallucinating. A part of him was worried that something like that was happening, that he was being made a fool of by his own mind and...

But the fact that Rudy was right here, alive and well, wasn’t enough to help him feel better. Oh no, if anything, it was making him feel even more tensed up, even more concerned. Because now he started to wonder just what was going on here. What was Rudy doing? What was Skrawl doing? Where were they going?

Lazlo hadn’t been close enough to hear much of what they were saying. So he was in the dark on what Biclops did with Skrawl, if this was part of his plan, if Skrawl had something else in mind, or what. It was just...so confusing and made his head hurt. Lazlo felt as though he needed to take a seat somewhere, rub his temples, and try to find some way to relax. This was all happening so fast, that...

Lazlo shook his head as he realized that the two had already ran far past him. They were moving rather swiftly, and soon the two began to disappear into the distance. Lazlo watched as their bodies continued to get smaller the further they got away. Then after a few moments, the two seemed to disappear completely.

This caused the stick figure baker to frown. Why would they go in that direction? That didn’t seem very strategic for either of them. It was more just...a random choosing. That had to be it. There was no rhyme or reason for them to head down that way.

But what was he going to do? Should he follow? Should he inform Biclops? Which would be the better option? They both had potentially good and bad points. He would have to weigh out those options and try to figure out what was the best choice to make. But he didn’t have a lot of time. If he was going to do anything, he would need to think of something fast, before those two got too far away and....

Fuck it, there was only one choice that he could make. If he left to go to Biclops, he would only end up letting those two get further and further away. But if he were to try to follow them...

Lazlo had a feeling that he was getting himself in huge trouble. He had a feeling that if he went through with this, he was going to push himself further in hot water. He had no idea what he was doing and he had no idea if this was really the right way to go about this. But it was all that he could do, and if he managed to succeed, then maybe, just maybe, he would be able to get a hold of Rudy and bring him back to Biclops. Then they could figure out exactly what’s been going on.

Lazlo didn’t waste any more time. After he pondered his decision for a good five seconds, if even that, the stick figure baker zoner immediately began to run in the direction that those two had gone off in. He had no idea if he would catch up to them in time, but he would damn well try. He pushed his body to go as fast as it could, his face heating up and his mouth opening to pant heavily. He could feel his mouth going a little dry as he disappeared into the distance.

He hoped that he would be able to catch up and do whatever it is he could do. He hoped that his actions would help shift things for the better. He hoped that... Well, there was a lot that he was hoping would happen.

But for now, all that he could do was just....run.

sss

Hissed the red window zoner. Its mouth was contorted in a smile, and it sent chills through Biclops’s spine. 

The giant chicken nodded its head. It looked as though it was trying to open its mouth, but like with the window, it was tied shut, preventing it from spewing out flames. Not that it slowed down its sarcastic bitter statements anyway.

Biclops tried to ignore them the best that he could. He had them locked up in a room in the back, where they were before. This time, he did not plan on taking them out again. He realized that he had made a mistake in doing so. He should have just left them continue to rot in that room.

But it wasn’t entirely bad. There was a bit of good that came out of this and he couldn’t deny that fact. And this positive thing that surfaced was another potential way to find Rudy....even if that way was still rimmed with risk.

He was not an idiot like these red zoners thought. He knew exactly what he was doing and how much of a risk it all was. He knew that, by going this, he was potentially putting himself in some danger, as well as everyone else. He had, in fact, promised Skrawl something that he should never, ever allowed to get a hold of.

And that was the Chalk Mine itself.

Skrawl may not be able to use any of the chalk inside. He might not be able to draw anything. But he would have absolute control over it, even destroy it. Skrawl would no doubt do so the moment that he did get a hold of the place. He could prevent Rudy from fighting back and he would be free to start taking over, perhaps creating more sentient zoners that obeyed him. And there was no doubt in the giant’s mind that he would be the first zoner that Skrawl would target.

But since he knew of the risk, he only made it when he was certain that things would float in his direction. He did tell Skrawl that he’d only give him control if he handed over Rudy, and when he did, he could let the boy into the mines to get magic chalk if he needed it and then Skrawl would be blasted back.

Was there still a risk of something going wrong? He hated to admit it, but yes, there was still some issues that needed to be worked out while he had the time. This was not going to go as smoothly as he would have liked. And if he wasn’t careful, things could end up even worse than he had imagined it.

Biclops could hear the red chalk zoners trying to taunt him a little more. He growled lowly and turned his head away, trying to ignore them. He didn’t want to have to listen to them. He shouldn’t let them get to him. He refused to look them in the eyes. Instead, he just turned and began to walk away slowly, down through the tunnel. He needed to find some place nice and quiet to set and think about this for some moments.

Thankfully, the front cave near the entrance was the perfect place to be. It was way from those two idiots, and it was generally pretty quiet even with people moving around outside. Though the caverns’s isolation away from most ChalkZone residents certainly helped. He just needed to sit down for a few moments and he could....

Upon arriving at the front, however, he realized that something was up. There was a strange sound that he was hearing. Something that caught him off guard. He froze in his tracks and looked left and right continuously, his teeth gritting tightly. He thought he was just hearing it at first after he realized that he couldn’t spot anything. He tried to chalk it up to him just being a little tense. He moved a little closer to the center of the room, preparing to sit down.

...there was that sound again. Biclops growled softly as he heard what was apparently loud shouts. It was still a bit distant and he couldn’t tell what it was at first. But there was someone there, running in this direction, making a lot of racket. His vertical eyes narrowed into slits as he made his way over slowly, his large body sending vibrations through the ground every time that he took a step.

The noise was getting louder and louder, and it was getting to the point where Biclops was quickening his pace rapidly, trying to get over there to see what the fuck was happening.

When he finally got to the entrance, he peered out, ready to start shouting, but then...

What the heck was this? Was that who he....

Biclops’s breath caught in his throat when he saw the forms of Skrawl, Lazlo and...Rudy Tabootie... running by in the distance.

Biclops stood there in absolute shock for several moments, his vertical eyes blinking. Did he really just see that? Biclops couldn’t bring himself to answer his own question. He was only able to just stand there and gawk in shock, his mind spinning around in circles.

sss

Rudy struggled to keep on running. He kept hitting his feet against the ground. He kept huffing and puffing. He could feel this throat going dry. He could feel his head spinning about. He opened and closed his mouth a few times and licked his lips, trying to keep them wetted. He struggled to keep his eyes focused on ahead of him. He needed to keep going. He needed to move faster. If he didn’t...

Rudy looked over his shoulder and flinched as he saw the large jellybean-like zoner coming at him. Skrawl looked really determined to get what he wanted. He hadn’t slowed down or showed any signs of stopping. The jellybean didn’t even look all that tired. It was as though he was fueled by some kind of energy that make him keep going, negating everything else. If this kept up, Rudy realized, much to his horror, that he would end up losing this ‘race’.

There was just no way that he could keep going on forever. He could already feel his heart and lungs screaming at him, scolding at him for this. He could already feel his head spinning and his brain aching. He could feel himself start to reach the point of just wanting to collapse. And he knew that if this kept up for much longer, that’s exactly what was going to happen.

“I don’t know why you keep trying to run, Rudy Tabootie! Do you really think that you can run forever?”

Rudy shuddered at this statement. Skrawl must have noticed him starting to lag a little. Rudy shook his head quickly and, growling deeply, pushed himself to go faster. He tried to ignore the pains he was starting to feel in his body as he kept going, tryin to get far away from this place.

Skrawl chortled a little. There was very little actual humor behind that however, and instead Skrawl sounded more bitter than anything. It was as though he was getting tired of this chase and just wanted to get what he wanted. Given all the frustration that he and his friends had given him in the past, he couldn’t say that he was too surprised by this.

That gave him all the more reason to keep running, though. He was not about to let Skrawl get anywhere near him. If he could help it, he would keep running as fast as he possibly could. He would have to fight through his body’s own wearines and push it beyond its limits, but it would be worth it in the end. He needed to keep Skrawl from getting what he wanted. That could not be allowed. Skrawl should never have...

Rudy flinched as he felt his leg hit against something hard. He staggered to the side, raising his foot up a little and nearly clutching it to himself. He fough off the pain as he kept on going, his wide eyes staring at Skrawl for a moment before he kept on moving.

Rudy noticed the land ahead of him was becoming a little windy and turny. It was going to be a little hard to keep up this speed unless he prepared himself. And that’s what he did, to the best of his ability. He waited until he started to get at a dip before he put pressure against the ground and launched himself into the air. He sailed across, his shadow moving along the ground, and landing in front of the dip. He started to move again and...

Rudy’s eyes widened in pain as his foot caught on something. His right foot had snagged against a groove in the ground. The force of his running prevented him from stopping and he ended up falling down quickly. He hit the ground painfully, spluttering and coughing in the process. He pushed himself up and shook his head before turning his head around to see where Skrawl was.

To his horror, Skraw was already way too close. Rudy turned himself around and raised up his magic chalk to try to defend himself. But Skrawl had close din the gap too quickly. A hand struck down at him. Rudy grunted as he felt those claws raking against his arm. He cried out in agony and soon clutched his arm to himself. He seethed and growled as he looked at the damage, surveying it. The gashes didn’t seem to be that deep. But they stung horribly and blood still dripped rapidly from the wound, trickling down his arm. He clutched his arm further against himself, shut his eyes, and hissed in pain. He then looked up at Skrawl, watching as the large jellybean towered over him.

“Aww, what’s the matter? Did you get your arm caught on something?” Skrawl asked in a fake sympathetic voice. Rudy could easily detect the true mocking nature underneth all of that. “Did you need any help?” He raised his hand up in gesture. “I’m sure the Great Creator would love to have someone help him, after all that he has done for the people of ChalkZone.”

Rudy struggled up to his feet, trying to move away from Skrawl. The massive zoner did not attempt to stop him. Perhaps the wobbliness of his legs made the jellybean realize that Rudy was not going anywhere that quickly. Rudy ignored the pain in his leg as he tried to move a little bit backwards. His eyes could not leave the odd-eyed stare of Skrawl.

Rudy attempted to move faster. But just as he thought would happen, he nearly tripped and had to struggle to keep himself steady. It would seem that he had damaged his leg more than he had initially though. He shook his leg a couple of times before attempting to move back again. Skrawl prevented this from happening by striking at him and causing him to fall onto his back. Rudy looked up and was about to speak, only for Skrawl to sieze his neck. Rudy struggled and gagged desperately.

“How disappointing that things are going to end this way.” Skrawl commented casually, staring up at Rudy with no sign of strong interest in him. It was as though the thing that Biclops promised had peaked his interest far more. “But then, all things have to...”

Skrawl let out a yelp as something suddenly struck out against him. He moved to the side a little, letting go of Rudy. As the boy dropped to the ground in a loud thud, Skrawl turned his head around to see just who had attacked him. He and Rudy both stared in confusion at the sight of a stick figure zoner standing there.

“L-Lazlo...?” Rudy whispered, recognizing the purple baker. “Wh-What are you....?”

“Run! Get away!” Lazlo cried out, moving his hand from side to side. “Flee from this place! I’ll try to hold him off!”

Rudy watched in horror as the baker zoner launched himself at Skrawl, trying to help him out. Rudy couldn’t bring himself to leave. His eyes were glued to the action before him. He couldn’t stop watching the scene playing out in slow motion. It was almost so surreal.

Lazlo jumping into the air...

Skrawl glaring at Lazlo...

The purple baker getting ready to ram against the jellybean....

Skrawl snorting and just grabbing onto him...

Rudy’s vision seemed to snap back to reality as soon as Skrawl grabbed the baker zoner’s throat and started to strangle him. He shook his head a few times and then watched in horror as Skrawl tightened his grip on around Lazlo’s neck and proceeded to throw him up against a nearby rock sticking out of the ground. Lazlo gagged and struggled, kicking his feet wildly.

Skrawl stared down at the struggling zoner, curling his lip up in disgust. “You’re so pathetic... What did you hope to accomplish by attacking me? Trying to buy little Rudy some time? Well look at how much you have succeeded...” Skrawl turned and smile over at Rudy, who still hadn’t attempted to leave. “You’ve hardly made a dent.” He stared sideways at Lazlo. “I could easily just break your neck and go after him and it’ll hardly be changed.”

Lazlo gasped at this and tried to squirm about. “W-Wait.. Please...!” Lazlo turned himself from side to side. “Y-You can’t...!”

Skrawl raised up his hand, his claws glinting in the light, and he started to strike down.

Rudy felt his blood run cold at this. He saw things slow down once more, becoming ever so painfully slow. He reached his hand out and screamed, “No!”

Suddenly, Rudy froze. His eyes became wide and hard to move. He struggled to breathe, feeling as though something was squeezing his lungs too hard. In fact, the entirety of his chest felt like it was being compressed under great pressure. He put his hand to it, and he felt alarmed at his heart rate speeding up at an unprecedented rate. His left arm was starting to hurt as well, along with his shoulder, and it was getting increasing difficult to stand. It all happened so fast that....

Rudy wobbled to the side, his body shaking. He found himself falling to the ground, his vision going dark and blurry. He continued to struggle to breathe, but he wasn’t sure how much more of this that he could handle. Sweat beads moved down his face and body and he was suddenly starting to feel a bit of a chill.

He was only sparsely aware of what was going on. He thought he could hear another scream, some kind of distorting gloating. He looked up and he could see some large green shadow thing standing over him. His vision was too blurry to make out what it was. He tried to speak, but his breath caught in his throat. He spasmed once at the sharp pain in his chest before just collapsing.

sss

Terry furrowed her eyes as she waited as patiently as she could for Rudy to come back. She wanted to believe that he was on his way and just had gotten lost. But this was taking a bit too long. She started to wonder if she should try sending something to go after him. Or should she wait? Maybe he was about to show up at any moment. Maybe he was about to...

She shook her head once, her eyes becoming a bit narrowed. Maybe Rudy was actually coming, but the fact that he wasn’t here yet was still pretty concerning. He didn’t usually take this long to get in here. And she could tell the two zoners were getting hungry and thirsty. Not that they were vocal about it, but she could hear their groans and she wanted them to shut up. Hard to do that without any chalk food or chalk water for them, though.

True, she and Vinnie could try getting something for them... But she retracted that idea. She didn’t think that it would be wise right now. If she or Vinnie showed their mugs in that place before Rudy set everything up, it could create a lot of problems. The zoners might recognize them and they might try to take action against them. It was going to be hard doing anything. So her best bet was to just stand here and wait for Rudy to come back.

But the fact that it was taking so long... She had to wonder just what was going on. Was he really just delayed from something as simple as getting lost? Or had something happened to him? She felt her stomach give off a strange sensation that she found difficult to shrug off. There was this urge to try to do....something about this. But just what could she do? What should she do?

Terry looked ove at the boy’s friends. The three of them were still sitting in their cage together, huddled closely. They were hardly looking at her at this point. They were too busy just trying to comfort each other. It was like they wer pretending that she was not in the room. Terry wasn’t really sure what to think about this, but she ultimately forced herself to turn away.

She wasn’t really interested in interacting with them for a good long while, anyway. Not after how Penny had behaved when Vinnie tried to give her something. Terry guessed that Penny had this ‘don’t feed me without feeding them’ attitude. Or even the more extreme ‘we won’t accept any food from you even if we starve’ mindset, which Terry hoped wasn’t the case. Rudy would be devastated if they ended up dying despite efforts to keep that from happening.

Terry lifted her head up when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She could see Vinnie slowly descending the starecase, rubbing his back and giving a soft moan. Terry couldn’t help but chuckle a little at this.

“Your back still sore?” Terry asked calmly.

Vinnie shot her a glare. “Not my fault that little brat can throw pretty far.”

Terry still smirked at him. She did find it rather amusing how Penny threw the plate so hard at Vinnie that it caused him to fall down. That had been quite the sight to see, even if she preferred Penny to be more compliant. “Stop your whining. You’re just fine.”

Vinnie just snarled back at her, making Terry smile. “Oh shut up.” He looked back over at their prisoners, giving Penny a dirty look. Not that Penny was even looking at him anyway. His attention was soon shifted back to Terry. “So...did Rudy come back yet?”

Terry’s smile faded and she let out an exhale. “Not really. I haven’t heard anything from him. I’m starting to get a little....” She stopped herself as she realized what she was about to say. “You know.”

Vinnie had apparently noticed what she was going to say. He gave her a look that was sort of a crossover between a smile and an expression of disappointment. “Yeah... I know...”

Terry tried not to flinch at that comment. But it wasn’t like she was too surprised. But she still had something that she could say to him. “You know you do, too.”

“What? No I...” Vinnie stammered, trying to defend himself. But any attempts to say anything just ended in him staggering and stuttering and eventually just....nothing. Vinnie inhaled and exhaled deeply, clearly trying to ignore Terry’s small smirk at him. “Anyway.... What are we going to do about this? Shouldn’t we try to get him back?”

“I thought about that, but the zoners would recognize us. It would be far too risky to go out right now.” Terry rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “But there has to be something else that we could do. He was gone for a bit too long. He should have been back by now.”

Vinnie nodded in agreement. “He wasn’t gone that long the last time, I can tell you that.”

Terry knew that Vinnie was correct. Rudy was gone only for half the time, maybe a little more, but still nowhere this long, the last time he was sent out. Something could have happened. Something could have been changed. And if she and Vinnie continued to do nothing, they would never know.

But just what could they do? Going into ChalkZone was not going to help them. They could blow everything. Even letting Rudy back in was a risk. If it weren’t for their successful brainwashing...er...coaxing, Rudy would probably have left to try to find help the moment that he had gotten back into ChalkZone. Or even just leave and try to find his own home.

There was a small part of her that tried to believe that everything was okay, that she was just exaggerating here. She wanted to believe that things would fall into place and that she had nothing to worry about. But who was she kidding? She could not fight off this feeling. And it wasn’t just their plan that she was starting to get worried about. She...

Wait, maybe there was something that could be done. There was something that they could try without much issue. At least, not as much as entering that world.

Turning her head to Vinnie, she said, “What if we were to write a note?”

Vinnie cocked an eyebrow at this. He looked at Terry as thought she had proposed something insane like ‘taking over the world’. Terry just stared back at him, keeping her face stern, showing that she was absolutely serious on this. And it seemed that the more Vinnie stared at her, the more that he realized this, and his eyes widened. “You think that would work...?”

Terry nodded her head. “If we wrote a note and had it sent to him, then he would know that we’re waiting for him and maybe he will hurry things along.”

Vinnie turned his head down and scratched it. “But he wouldn’t be able to write back to us... I mean, with the information he’s already given us, I don’t think that...”

“But it’s something, isn’t it? It’s better than just doing nothing!” Terry stopped herself before she continued. She realized that she was wasting too much energy trying to argue with this fool. She forced herself to breathe in and out slowly, exhaling deeply. She had to relax. She had to calm down. Once she felt that she expended enough energy, she said, “Look, we can send him a note to see if he will get back to us in some way. Send out a creation to the portal or something. I don’t know.”

Vinnie folded his arms and shook his head slowly. “A couple problems with that.” Vinnie raised his finger up. “First one, can a zoner even make a mark where a chalkboard is? Is that possible? He never told us either way.” He then raised up another finger. “And second, if Rudy is aware that he’s late and I’m sure he is, then why didn’t he try something like that already? Maybe he did and he failed.”

“I...” Terry stopped in midsentence as she stared at Vinnie. She gritted her teeth together as she took a step back. As much as she hated to admit it, Vinnie did have a point there. “Hrm... I guess we can think of something else.”

“Or just wait.” Vinnie looked away from her. “This is the price we have to pay for trusting that child.”

Terry said nothing.

sss

Rapsheeba was trying her best to ignore what Terry and Vinnie were talking about. She tried to block them from her mind and just concentrate on Penny and Snap. They were all trying to help each other just take their minds off of what was happening and comfort each other.

But the more that she heard Vinnie talk, the more difficult this was starting to become. She could feel her body trembling and her mind swimming with thoughts. She could feel her heart racing and clenching. Each time Vinnie spewed out a word, she flinched, feeling a sharp pain as though she had been stabbed. She couldn’t stop thinking about what that horrible man had done to her. She couldn’t stop feeling it, seeing his face, the pressure and the pain... Tears strolled own her cheek.

“Rapsheeba...?” Snap asked in a soft voice, staring at her with great concern. “Is anything wrong...?”

Rapsheeba wiped the tears from her face and shook her head rapidly, trying to hide her feelings the best that she could. Both Snap and Penny already knew how much she was afflicted by what was going on and it didn’t really make much sense to her to burden them with her problems. She didn’t want to make them worry more than they already were. So best to just cover it all up for now.

But a part of her knew that this was wrong. She knew that she was only going to make them worry more. And yet she still found herself trying to put on a smile. She felt herself being driven in this direction. Perhaps it was the high stress situation that they were in. Perhaps it was her just...wanting to believe that it was going to be all right. Maybe she was just in denial of what had happened to her.

She let out a small sigh. Being in denial was not going to be good for her. If she kept that up, then.... She shook the thought out of her head. Regardless, she would rather just...wait things out for now instead of upsetting them further. And besides, there was something else on her mind that had her worry even more.

“I wonder what’s going to happen to Rudy...”

The question immediately silenced Penny and Snap. Of course it did. They were all highly worried about him and how Vinnie and Terry were affecting his actions. They were still at as much of a loss as ever as to how to handle this. They knew that something would need to change. But just...what could that be? What could they do?

Rapsheeba turned and glared partially in their captors’ direction. “I think I heard them talking about Rudy.”

Snap narrowed his eyes. “Who cares what they think? They...”

“I think Terry said something about Rudy being late.” Penny lamented softly. Her gaze was towards the ground. “I just hope that this meant that he is trying to escape...and no because he is in danger.”

Snap’s expression softened up a little. He was still trying to look brave and trough for the both of them. “I’m sure he’s fine. He’s Rudy!”

“But with that pacemaker....” Penny whispered, her voice trailing off. “If that is an issue...”

“Oh...yeah...” Snap’s voice was laced with horror. “If he runs for too long...”

Rapsheeba could feel her heart skipping a beat. She felt a huge amount of guilt at nearly forgetting about this detail. They were both right. Rudy’s pacemaker would make things difficult. Rapsheeba felt herself hoping, just like them, that something like that was not becoming an issue. If that were the case, then Rudy...

Rapsheeba struggled not to think about it. She tried not to allow her thoughts to go down that far down that path. She wanted to believe that Rudy would be okay, that he was not in any sort of danger. She wanted to think that, at the very least, he was coming back from his ‘duties’. And yet there was still that nagging part of her that told her something was wrong. She gritted her teeth as she tried to cope with the unsettling thoughts.

“Rudy... If he...” Rapsheeba spoke as her voice trailed off.

But the group of friends were suddenly interrupted, caught off guard by the voice barking at them.

“What were you saying about Rudy?”

Rapsheeba and her friends turned to stare at Vinnie and Terry. The one who had spoken was Terry. The red-haired woman was coming towards them slowly, positioning herself in front of the cage. She lowered herself a little, staring them right in the eyes, and she repeated herself.

“Come on. Tell me what you said.” Terry told them, keeping her voice soft and almost gentle.

At this, the three friends just glared right back at her. Seeing her face as they made this realization made them realize just how much they hated this vile woman. They realized now just how much Terry had put Rudy at stake, and how this wouldn’t have happened if she never had...

Rapsheeba had done a good job with keeping herself silent. Yelling at this woman wouldn’t have done anything except perhaps land them in more trouble. She did not want to provoke the woman further, in spite of how good it would feel to empty her train of thoughts at her.

But Penny and Snap, however, were not as easily silenced.

“It’s all your fault!” Snap shouted.

“He’s in trouble and you can only blame yourself!” Penny added in. “Not that you care!”

Terry was a little taken aback by this. She looked over at Vinnie, the two of them exchanging confused glances, before looking back at them. She blinked a few times. “I am not sure what you are talking about...” Terry finally said. She was surprisingly cautious as she said this, as though she was afraid of a backlash. Though who knows with her?

Penny ground her teeth. “Don’t lie about it, you witch! You’re the one who shot him in the heart!”

Terry’s eyes widened at this, though she said nothing.

“Because of you, if Rudy is running from danger, he’s going to overwork his heart!” Snap growled, his body trembling.

Penny lowered her head, her eyes staring intently at Terry. “And when that happens...”

Rapsheeba didn’t bother saying anything. There was not really much more to add except a disapproving glare of her own. Disgust filled the back of her throat and she licked her lips, struggling to keep herself from vomiting. It was quite the task, but she managed to hold back the bitter bile that was struggling to escape from her stomach.

Terry’s response was not what they were expecting. They thought that she was going to taunt them about how it was Rudy’s fault or their fault. They thought that she was going to dismiss the danger or act like she didn’t care. They had braced themselves for the harsh comments, the disgusting statements that she was going to surely make.

But instead, the actual result was....surprising.

Terry actually looked.... Well it was still a bit slight and not as much as they felt was necessary, but she still looked more..concerned than anything. Surprised as well, as though she realized she had clearly forgotten something. She stood there for several moments, this realization slowly dawning on her, and her expression changed to show more concern. It was hard to tell if it was genuine concern or an act to appease them, but it was still surprising to see, nonetheless.

Vinnie looked pretty similiar. Not to the same degree as Terry. But the fact that he looked even the slightest bit concerned about this statement was shocking. Not that he had ever tried to kill Rudy, but he never acted like he had cared either. He did help kidnap Rudy, after all. It was still so...surreal to see the two like this. And it made them actually wonder...

Had Rudy actually been right about them...?

Terry swerved her head towards Vinnie. Her next statement was bold and laced with urgency. “Get the chalk.”

Vinnie looked a little startled by this. He soon nodded his head as he started to head over to wherever they were keeping the chalk that Rudy had brought them.

As Vinnie went, Terry glanced over at the cage. She furrowed her eyes for a moment, giving a look of ‘I am going to regret this’ before moving quickly to where the keys were being held. She grabbed onto them and made her way back over. She reached over to where the lock was and pushed the key inside.

“What are you doing?” Penny asked, her face contorted in confusion and skepticism.

“You’re coming with me.” Terry replied firmly, which only further confused Rapsheeba and the others. What was Terry wanting with them?

sss

Skrawl chuckled darkly as he stared down at Rudy’s body. The child was hardly moving save for a few twitches. The jellybean zoner had no idea just how this had happened, but he didn’t care. The fact was that Rudy was down for the count, stopped by...something. And he was so incredibly vulnerable right now. It would be so easy to just grab him and do whatever he wanted with him. It would be way too easy for him to...

Skrawl shook his head, trying to snap himself back to attention. He was wasting time standing here. He had the chance to grab Rudy and that’s exactly what he was going to do. And once he did, he could use this boy to bargain for the Chalk Mine.

And once he had the Chalk Mine, he was free to destroy it...

Skrawl couldn’t help but chuckle a little more as he flexed his fingers and then grabbed Rudy by the throat. The boy hardly reacted to his touch, a sign of just how deeply out that he really was. Skrawl smiled evilly as he lifted his arm upwards, letting Rudy dangle in the air like he was some kind of sack of potatoes.

A part of him couldn’t believe that this was really it. He was finally on his way to getting exactly what he wanted. He was close to rendering Rudy Tabootie here utterly defenseless. Just how was Rudy going to protect ChalkZone when he had no magic chalk? That was going to be quite a feat, wouldn’t it? His face contorted into a smile, sinister and sharp, before turning and beginning to walk away. He paid little attention to the foolish purple zoner on the ground. He was unimportant.

Indeed, all that mattered to him right now is the fact that he had Rudy. He had the key to taking over ChalkZone. He had the key to insuring that he was not going to be hindered by his domination of ChalkZone for any longer. All it was going to take was finding that stupid giant and threatening Rudy to make him submit. Surely Biclops wouldn’t want anything to happen to his precious protector, wouldn’t he?

Skrawl could hear the sound of footsteps approaching. Heavy and shaky, and a bit of a distance away. He swerved his head in that direction and he thought that he could make out a lrage, hulking shape in the distance. He smirked, recognizing Biclops quite easily. So it would seem that the giant spared him he effort in finding him. Very well then. This made things so much easier.

Skrawl took one more look at Rudy before turning to where Biclops was. With his smile remaining quite stretched, the jellybean zoner made his way towards him.

sss

Oh no... No, no.. This couldn’t be... Why were the tracks starting to fade now? They weren’t near anything. This couldn’t be the end of it. Come on... There had to be more somewhere...

Mr. Tabootie refused to believe that this was it. He didn’t want to think that it would be over so quickly. They had come all this way, took this risk, put themselves in danger... They were not about to be stopped by the lack of tracks. He thought that they would be caught by the authorities long before these tracks would have ended.

It would seem that Vinnie and Terry, or whoever these kidnappers were, were more clever than he and the others had anticipated. He didn’t know if he should be impressed or horrified.

The ground had several long marks that began to fade. It was too obvious to all of them that whoever had taken Rudy had also taken the measures of doing better at hiding their tracks. They must have realized that someone could have followed them back with them. That was going to make their tracking even harder.

“We can’t give up.” Mrs. Taboote growled. She looked around, her eyes narrowing into slits. “There has to be something around here that could help us. They couldn’t have been that thorough.”

Mr. Tabootie watched his wife sadly. It pained him to see just how desperate that she was getting. She refused to back down, just like him and Mrs. Sanchez. But she was starting to push it a little far and it worried him. “Millie...” He whispered softly, reaching his hand out towards his wife. “Please....”

His wife swerved her head in his direction. “Don’t you dare give up on me, Joe!”

Mr. Tabootie was startled by this. He took a step back, raising up his hands. “I was not giving up. I was just...” He wasn’t really sure how to continue. Especially with how his wife was glaring at him like that. He swallowed hard and eventually squeaked out, “Look, I know tensions are getting high and...”

But Millie wouldn’t have it. She just snarled at him before turning her head away and started to march forward. She got up onto a small hill at where the path began to divide and started to look around. Mr. Tabootie and Mrs. Sanchez watched her in silence sadly, shaking their heads slowly.

It would take nothing short of a miracle to find Rudy and Penny at this point. With so many ways to go, just how do they choose the right one? With so many points of reference, how would they figure out that they were getting somewhere? They didn’t even know how to choose, and if they chose wrong... Joe shuddered at the thought. He didn’t want to think about that. He...

Mr. Tabootie tried not to let that get the better of him. He needed to keep focus. He struggled to breathe in and out slowly and deeply, his eyes narrowing slowly. He wanted to believe that there was a way out of this. Something that they could do. But without a suitable path, without something that they could grab onto, look at, analyze... Just how were they going to find their children..?

“I can’t believe it... They couldn’t have been that smart, could they...?” Mrs. Sanchez put her hand to her mouth, shaking her head back and forth. She kept walking around in circles, her eyes shining with a very apparent ‘wheels turning’ kind of look. “They had to have slipped up somewhere...”

“They did. I’m sure of it.” Mrs. Tabootie replied. “I just know they did. Remember how Terry Bouffant got herself caught? She was stuck in that moment of emotion and that made it easy for her to make it clear to everyone just how dangerous she really was.” Mrs. Tabootie stared intently at Mrs. Sanchez. “I don’t doubt that something similiar would happen here, too.”

Mr. Tabootie, on the other hand, didn’t feel so sure about that. “The problem with that line of thinking is that it would require her not to learn from her mistakes. And you and I both know how unlikely that would be.” Mr. Tabootie tried not to sound afraid, but he just couldn’t help it. The tense feeling crawled up inside of him and made it hard to breathe. “I don’t think she’d make the same mistake again.”

“Joe...please don’t tell me you’re giving up already...” Millie whispered. Her voice was tense, a mixture of fear and anger.

Joe shook his head. “I don’t want to, anyway. I’m just...trying to look at this from a more realistic angle.” He tilted his head up a little, his eyes looking out ahead. He sucked his lip into his mouth, pressing his teeth against it, ignoring the pain. Then he said, “I don’t...” He swallowed hard, shuddering at the bitter bile taste in his mouth. “I don’t want to think that....”

Mrs. Tabootie narrowed her eyes a little further. “Then don’t.” She took a few steps over to Mr. Tabootie. She reached out and she touched her hand against his cheek. “Please... just keep believing. The moment that you say we can’t do this, we’ll never find them. Try to stay positive. Try to be strong. Please...”

Mr. Tabootie stared at his wife for a few seconds. Then he slowly nodded his head, trying to smile the best that he could. “I’ll try.”

Mrs. Tabootie smiled at this. “Thanks, Joe.” She leaned in and kissed him on the forehead.

Mr. Tabootie just hoped that he could live up to his promise. He still felt unsure and he still wasn’t entirely certain how he was going to go about this. He didn’t know if he and the others could find their children so quickly or anytime soon. They still needed a point of reference. Something to help them find whatever it is that they were looking for. Something like...

Mr. Tabootie stared out at where his wife was before. He looked at the mound, and then at what was after that. He remained silent for several moments, studying that spot carefully. There was something that he was taking notice of. Something that he did not see before. Was his wife blocking it? Was he just delusional? He had no idea....but he still needed to figure out what that was.

Slowly, he moved in closer. He took his time, not wanting to slip up or get himself hurt. He ignored what his wife and friend were saying as he tried to focus on this one spot. A particular corner at the curve. Something that looked slightly out of place.

Something with the trees.... Sure they still stood up tall around here. But something was off with one of them. It was only apparent when the wind caressed against the trunk, moving about the branches, that he really took notice of it.

One of the branches had been broken.

sss

Biclops tried to move as quickly as he could. He wished that he had moved faster. As soon as he saw just what was going on, he should have reacted right then and there. But instead, he had delayed himself, just standing there in utter shock, feeling a level of sickness coming over him as though someone had just shot him with something. It was so hard to describe, but he just...

Biclops soon shook his head and tried to keep his attention full on moving out ahead. He needed to be as quick as he could. He needed to keep moving so that he could try to catch up and hopefully stop Skrawl and get a hold of Rudy.

He could feel his mind feel...rather strange at that thought. He wasn’t sure what to think about it. It had been so long since he had truly interacted with Rudy. The first time was when he had infiltrated the mines to steal some chalk. And even then, that wasn’t so much of a real interaction as it was just....him being in shock and being unable to stop Rudy from getting away. And now that he had a second chance... He wasn’t letting it slip.

He could tell that he was getting closer. He could see the retreating form of Skrawl. Rudy was surely nearby. All he had to do was get a little closer and...

Wait... What was this...? The form wasn’t getting further away.

It was getting closer. But why would...

Oh no...

Biclops found himself coming to a halt when he saw that Skrawl was indeed coming over towards him. And he was carrying something in his arms. Or rather, someone. He could see that someone was swinging violenetly in his arms, and it didn’t take long to recognize them.

Rudy.

Biclops stood there frozen for several seconds, his mouth going wide and dropping open. He struggled to make sense of what the heck was going on. He wasn’t... He couldn’t be seeing what he thought he was, right? There was just no way that... He had to be imagining things. Maybe it was not Rudy. Maybe it was somebody else. Maybe...

But the more that he stared, the more that he realized that....yes, this was indeed Rudy Tabootie. There was no mistaking that face, that hair, that body structure. There was no mistaking the smile on Skrawl’s face. He wouldn’t look like that if he were just grabbing just any human child, now would he? Not to mention...

How could Skrawl even grab another human anyway? There weren’t like there was a ton of options.

Biclops stared at the zoner for several moments before he shook his head and glared intently at him. He formed a tight first with his hand and gritted his teeth. He watched and waited as Skrawl drew in closer, his mouth still contorted into that hideous smile. Biclops tried to keep himself as steady as possible, trembling. If Skrawl even thought about doing anything to that child... His hand formed into a tight fist.

Skrawl, however, looked completely confident that he was going to be just fine. He raised Rudy’s unconcious form a little higher and said, “Do you want your precious guardian back?”

“Put him down!” Biclops demanded, forming a tight fist with his hand, leaning himself a little more forward. “If you dare hurt him, I will fucking break you apart!”

Skrawl looked a little startled by this, but nonetheless just kept smiling at him. His smile just twisted upwards, contorting his face even more. The sight of it was rather unsettling to see. Biclops knew exactly why Skrawl was being so confident. But that didn’t make this any less disturbing to witness. He tried not to look too shaken up, but Skrawl had taken notice anyway.

“If you want him back..” Skrawl raised his hand up. He pointed outward a long finger and moved it in a ‘come here’ motion. “...you will need to hand over what you promised me.”

Biclops immediately felt a chill shooting throughout his body. “Y-You want what..?” He stammered. He struggled to lick his lips to keep them from drying. But it seemed like, no matter what he tried, he just kept failing. “I....”

Skrawl’s smile faded, replaced with a frown. “Oh come on, don’t tell me you are going to back out?” He shrugged, leaning himself to the side. “What kind of message are you sending people if you are not willing to keep up with your end of the bargain? You went people to know that you were a liar?”

“They wouldn’t want me to put them in danger!” Screeched Biclops, his fists tightening. “If you think that I am just going to hand over the mines that easily....!”

Skrawl’s eyes glinted. “Then so be it.”

Biclops’s body went a little lax. His arms began to lower down and his mouth opened up a little wider. “What are you going to do...?”

Skrawl just sneered and chuckled. He did not say a word. Instead, he just lifted Rudy up a little more, his hand tightening around his neck. Rudy was nothing more than some limp doll, not making any sort of movement. His eyes were partially open, but they were unseeing. If it weren’t for the fact that his chest did inflate and deflate, Biclops would have thought for sure that the boy was dead.

Skrawl raised up his other hand slowly, keeping himself balanced on one foot. Biclops watched, wary, almost morbidly curious as to what the zoner was going to do. Skrawl slowly brought his claws down towards Rudy’s neck and before he even closed the gap, Biclops realized immediately what was going on.

“Wait you can’t do that!” Biclops shouted in horror. “Get your filthy paw away from him!”

The jellybean zoner refused to listen. In a matter of seconds, his claw tips pressed up against Rudy’s vulnerable throat. He applied only slight pressure, but it was enough to make Biclops nearly suffer a heart attack.

With a stinging chest, Biclops reached out towards Skrawl. “Don’t do it! Please, you don’t know what this...”

“I know exactly what this will do. It will give me what I want, regardless of what you do.” Skrawl’s smile grew ever more twisted, his face darkening up. He looked more smug than anyone Biclops had ever seen, even outdoing some of the nastier human children he had to deal with in the past. “You either give me the mines and I will give back Rudy, and in exchange I get to cut him off from the source of his weapon that he used against me.” He raised his hand in gesture. “Or I would just kill him and I would still be rid of his influence, making it easier for me to do what I want.”

Biclops swallowed nervously, struggling to breathe. He took a small step back, his head feeling quite spinny.

Skrawl lifted his hand up and positioned it back to where Rudy’s neck was. He applied slightly more pressure this time as he chortled. “Either way, I win.”

Biclops remained frozen where he stood. He struggled to think of just how he could respond to this. He tried to think of what he could do. He needed to get Rudy out of here... But he couldn’t just strike him. Skrawl’s claws were way too close to his throat. If the jellybean pressed any harder....

Biclops swallowed once again, flinching at the terrible stinging in his stomach. There had to be something that he could do.

But what could that be?

sss

“Joe, I want to believe you, but...are you absolutely sure? You’re positive that....”

Mr. Tabootie tightened his grip around the branch, nearly tearing it off. “There’s no way that just one branch would be broken that easily. And look how low this is...” He turned his head to look over his shoulder. “Do you want to bet that Vinnie or Terry had something to do with this?”

Mrs. Tabootie flinched at this before looking over at Mrs. Sanchez. She was not surprised when her friend couldn’t find an answer for her. Mrs. Tabootie then looked right back at her husband. She was glad that he was still trying. She was not upset about that. But she couldn’t help but feel some level of concern about how he was going about this. She had never seen that look in his eyes before.

But then again, wasn’t she just as determined earlier? Wasn’t she just as willing to jump down someone’s throat if they weren’t cooperating? It just felt like she was. The thought of that made her grit her teeth, making her realize that Joe was right. They were all on edge.

But could Joe’s findings even get them anywhere? Yes they found something that was off. And it was better than nothing, she’d agree. But they couldn’t get a ton of information from this. They weren’t able to figure out which way the branch was broken or anything. They might as well just cut it off and it would still have the same effect.

“Why don’t we head in deeper?” Mrs. Tabootie suggested. “Maybe we might find something better that way? Maybe we’ll find tracks or...”

Mr. Tabootie turned to stare at her. His eyes looked just as intense as before. He looked as though he was going to try arguing with her, fighting for another direction. But instead, to her relief, her husband instead just exhaled deeply and appeared to relax just slightly. “Where do you think we should try? What direction?”

Mrs. Tabootie opened her mouth to speak, but then paused. Where could they go? Where should they go? That is a good question, now wasn’t it? It was crucial that she picked a good direction. She could end up taking them closer to their children...or further away... And it was obvious which way they would all rather go.

But just where should they go? She repeated that question over and over again in her mind. Trying to choose was going to be difficult. The tracks were covered and there was no way to know if they had kept going in the same direction or if they had gone elsewhere. Screwing up could potentially mean dragging themselves in circles, making it difficult to get any sort of progress done. They would essentially be running themselves into the dirt while Vinnie and Terry were doing who-knows-what to their children.

Just then, taking her by surprise, Mrs. Sanchez suddenly moved forward. Mrs. Tabootie had to move back quickly to avoid getting hit by her. She turned and watched as the lanky woman made her way over towards Mr. Tabootie, her eyes narrowed deeply. Mr. Tabootie watched her in confusion, unable to do so much as speak. Eventually, Mr. Tabootie seemed to catch her silent message and stepped aside, allowing Mrs. Sanchez to come in closer.

The vet woman moved even closer to the tree. She dropped down onto one knee and carefully touched the broken twig. She examined it carefully, turning it back and forth. All the Tabooties could do was just watch in silence and wait to see what was going to happen.

Just when they couldn’t take the silence for much longer, Mrs. Sanchez turned back to them. “I believe I know which way to go.”

Mr. Tabootie blinked. “How do you...”

“I’ve hiked a few times in the past. I’ve learned a thing or two.” Mrs. Sanchez took one more look at the twig, as though second guessing herself. Then she lifted her hand up and pointed in one direction. “I believe this is the way to go. The way that the twig is broken strongly suggests that they were moving quickly over here.”

“That is impressive....” Mr. Tabootie whispered. He jerked a little when his wife suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll offer praises later. Right now, let’s go find our children.” Mrs. Tabootie growled as she pushed herself forward, nearly knocking her husband back. She didn’t mean to do that. She was just so determined to find her son and now that Mrs. Sanchez had opened up the trail for them again...

There was no time to waste. They all knew that. There was no more time for talking. They all fell silent and went into a more focused mode. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else entered their minds. Only saving their children from those....those monsters...

Moving together as a unite, they began to resume their searching.

However, they did not get that far.

“Hey! What are you all doing here? This is private land!”

Mrs. Sanchez and the others froze as they heard someone shouting at them. The voice was a bit faint, indicating they were still a good distance away. But it was nonetheless stil unsettling to hear after going all this way without being caught. Their hearts tightened and stung as they looked over behind them.

In the distance, they could see that someone on a snow bike coming in closer to them. The sound of the snow being ripped up from the bike’s tires were suddenly apparent, and almost grating. The occupant looked to be a young man dressed in a thin-yet-insulated winter suit, some fuzzy linings around his sleeves and a helmet covering his face. When he got close enough, he turned his bike to the side, creating a loud screeching sound as he forced his bike to a complete halt.

The man got off of his bike and slowly took off his helmet, revealing his rugged-looking face and the glare that he wore. Looking carefully, Mrs. Tabootie quickly realized that this wasn’t a look of just pure anger. It was one of suspicion.

“Just what the hell do you folks think you’re doing here? No one is supposed to be out where unless they’ve been given the clear by the director. This is private land, don’t you know?”

Mrs. Tabootie bit her lip. She knew that this probably wouldn’t go over too well, but she had a response to that. “How do we know you’ve been given the clear?”

The man just scoffed and motioned to their outfit. “In the winter, we’re issued these to wear. We’re not supposed to leave the cabin without them. Summer time, they give something else. This is their way of making sure only certified people come here.” The man took another look at them and raised his lip up. “And none of you are wearing anything of the sort. So tell me what are you doing here? You trying to make us all pay a fine for an unwanted visitor?”

Mrs. Tabootie couldn’t bring herself to speak up right away. She glanced at the others before looking back at the man. She could feel her heart racing. This man could ruin everything. They had gotten so close. They weren’t about to give all that up now. They couldn’t get arrested. Not with their children still out there...

Would this man understand? If she explained the circumstances, would he be willing to let them go? Even offer to help himself? There was still a chance that this man would not give a shit and just report them, but...maybe there was still a chance that he might... Most sensible people would understand. And if nothing else, it was worth a shot at least. She had to try.

As Mrs. Sanchez and Mr. Tabootie exchanged nervous looks, both clearly unsure of what to do, Mrs. Tabootie took a step forward, glaring intently at the man before her. They stared each other down for several long seconds, remaining silent. It was as though they were daring the other one to speak first.

Eventually, Mrs. Tabootie started.

“You have to understand our predicament. Maybe if I told you, then you will understand...”

The man tilted his head slowly to the side. A smile cracked along his face as he chuckled once. “Go ahead and try, lady. We will see...”

With that, Mrs. Tabootie nodded her head once before she began.

sss

This was unprecedented. Terry never would have thought that she’d see herself in this position. She never thought that she would do something like this. After all of her talk of wanting to kill Rudy in the past, why was she...

Terry tried to shake the thought out of her head. She tried to fight to hold onto whatever was left of her old thinking. A small part of her did not want to just give in so easily. She did not want to think that she had fallen down this far. She was only doing this because Rudy was still valuable to her and Vinnie’s efforts.

Yeah, that’s all that it really was.

She was glad that, at the very least, Penny, Snap, and Rapsheeba weren’t mentioning anything to her about this. There weren’t any looks of suspicion or any smug remarks on the irony of her actions. They were more focused on what needed to be done, and they seemed to understand that, right now, they would do best to just do exactly what she said.

And they did. Once they realized what she was doing, once they realized that this was their chance to help Rudy, they were immediately silent and simply followed her. Their worry for their friend outshined their suspicion. Perhaps giving Penny some magic chalk helped out as well. A part of Terry did realize what a risky move that this was. But it was too late to really take it back, now wasn’t it?

Oh well, her and Vinnie had some magic chalk as well. If Penny tried to cause any trouble, they would be able to stop her. It wouldn’t really take much to subdue her with the two of them working together. They didn’t really have much to worry about.

Terry continued her march forward, her eyes narrowing into slits, her teeth gritted. Everything had been moving quite fast and she had little time to really react to it. She seethed a little as she continued her striding, trying to move as quickly as possible. If Penny and her little friends’ assessment was right, then...

She paused and looked behind her to make sure that Penny and Snap were indeed following her. She could see that they were indeed right behind her, along with Rapsheeba. And Vinnie wasn’t that far either, positioned at her side, slightly behind. She slowly turned her attention back to what was in front of her. She had to wonder just how far Rudy would have walked, or if they were even going in the right direction. Well, the only way to know was to just keep marching forward and hope that they find something.

It was so awkward being in here. Terry realized that she might have screwed up in coming here. Vinnie had tried to warn her about this. But she had been in too big of a rush to really listen to him. Well she was partially listening, but she felt too... It was like she was overwhelmed by adrenaline and urgency....because that’s what had happened. For whatever reason, her mind had prioritized trying to get Rudy back over taking any extra precaution. She realized now that this was going to bite her back in the ass so hard.

But right now, in this very moment, that didn’t matter.

At least this was a quiet area of ChalkZone. Terry felt that it was pretty lucky that they hadn’t seen many zoners yet. At least, no sentient ones. A few animal zoners that were, well, animals. Wild creatures. They didn’t really care about their presence. But it was a bit odd there was none around here. Wasn’t ChalkZone supposed to be filled with sentient zoners? Rudy seemed to make it seem that way. Perhaps she had just exaggerated the image in her mind.

Snap, Penny, and Rapsheeba did not make any comments about how odd this was. Nothing about how they were looking at her or acting seemed to indicate that they felt that something was wrong. So to them, this was pretty normal. Perhaps this area was supposed to be empty after all.

Well in that case, that was pretty much a relief. They were going to have enough trouble without zoners trying to stop them every ten feet. At least this way, there was far less to worry about.

But it still wasn’t going to be easy. They still needed to figure out where Rudy was. His friends wouldn’t have known which way he had gone. They couldn’t call out his name because Terry wanted this rescue....er...retrieval she meant, to be as quiet as possible. She didn’t want to attract any zoners, and she had made this clear to the three little brats. Whether they would uphold to their promise of listening would be seen soon enough.

The small group continued their trek through ChalkZone, looking around for any signs of the boy. The fact that there was nothing was pretty worrying. They all realized that it probably meant that Rudy had gone pretty far. Rudy’s friends were obviously hopeful that Rudy had taken his moment of freedom to try to escape. But both Terry and Vinnie knew that Rudy wouldn’t be swayed that easily, and that meant that something else had happened.

Terry could feel her heart tighten once before fleeting away. She hissed softly at this. A part of her still wasn’t sure why she even cared what happened. There was still that lingering feeling of just wanting to watch him die. How could she have switched gears so quickly? Something just....didn’t feel right.

...but how long could she keep denying it? She had tried and struggled constantly to try to write it off as something else or act like she didn’t care. Wouldn’t it be easier to just...accept it? She had asked this question to herself a few times before, but she still struggled with a more suitable answer. Perhaps there just wasn’t one and this was going to be something she was going to have to just deal with. She....

Suddenly she heard Vinnie grunt. She stopped herself and looked over at him. She struggled not to groan as she saw that the man had hooked his foot in something. He had tripped forward against a small dent in the ground. Nothing really major. The man stumbled forward a little before raising his foot up. He shook it a few times before he moved forward a little more. He then started to resume walking.

“Watch where you’re going, you big loof!” Terry hissed under her breath. Vinnie turned to glare at her. Terry snarled, “Don’t look at me like that. You know that you did that to yourself.” She raised her head up, her eyes glinting. “You should know where you’re putting down your foot.”

Vinnie hissed lowly, “You mean like you are right now?”

“What are you...” Terry was suddenly stopped when she walked right into a tree. She felt her face smash up against something and she staggered backwards. She raised up her hand and covered her face, hissing under her breath. “Oh son of a...”

She heard a few giggles behind her. She whipped her head around and glared at Penny, Snap, and Rapsheeba. She thought about saying something to them, but she thought better of it. Besides, it was kind of her fault, anyway. She did walk right into that one. She should have followed her own advice and just watch where she was going. Then she wouldn’t have had that embarrassment.

She brushed herself off, scoffing and ignoring the laughter aimed at her. She was about to get a move on when she noticed something. She had meant to just look at Vinnie to tell him to get up, but then she realized that something seemed a bit odd about this particular area. There seemed as though there was a very slight thing off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It didn’t settle right with her, but why?

“Hey, Ms. Bouffant, if you’re done...” Penny approached the woman carefully. Her voice was just barely holding back the anger that she had for the woman, and Terry knew this. “We should get going. Rudy is probably somewhere nearby.”

Snap nodded his head. “Listen to Buckette. She knows what she’s talking about.” He put his arm around Rapsheeba, holding her close. The female zoner did not say anything, likely too nervous with Vinnie around. No surprise.

But recalling what Penny had said about Rudy, that made her look back at the tree that she had just run into. She blinked her eyes a few times as she moved in closer to it. It wasn’t until she got close enough that she noticed that it had something on it that didn’t belong there. It was very small and faint. Only just barely noticeable. But it was enough for her to see it and realize something was wrong.

Terry reached over and grabbed onto the strand carefully. She didn’t attempt to move it, out of fear that it was something important. She peered at it closely. It seemed pretty soft and the coloring was looking rather familiar. But she couldn’t tell just...why at first.

It suddenly clicked in her mind that she did have Penny with her. Perhaps the little genius girl would be able to tell her what this was. She looked over her shoulder and motioned for Penny to come on over. “Take a look at this.”

Penny looked skeptical, but regardless, she still came over anyway. She soon arrived right at the spot and looked at Terry expectantly. “At what?”

Terry tried not to groan in frustration. She lifted her finger and pointed at the tree that she stood in front of. “That. Can you take a close look at that strand? It looks familiar.”

Penny tilted her head and gave her the biggest ‘what the heck’ look she had ever seen. But nonetheless, Penny still opted to do what she said. She looked at the tree herself. She licked her lips slowly and frowned deeply. Slowly, she began to move forward, keeping her eyes glued intently onto the tree. Terry moved back a little in order to give the little girl some breathing room.

Penny stood and stared at the tree for several long moments. Her eyes moved over it slowly as she studied it. She reached over and lifted it up carefully in her hand. She leaned in closer and examined it silently, tilting her head to and fro, as though trying to get a good idea of this thing. She was all the while just silent, aside from a few small ‘hmm’ sounds.

Terry could feel herself start to feel rather anxious. But despite that, she managed to keep herself as still and quiet as possible. She didn’t want to rush the girl. Snap did say to trust her, right?

Suddenly Penny seemed startled by something. She jerked a little. Enough to startle Snap and Rapsheeba. Vinnie looked up and seemed perplexed by the whole thing. Terry widened her eyes and wondered what it is she had seen. Penny was looking intently at that strand. Her face looked like it was filled with horror.....but that was soon replaced by determination. Terry had to wonder if this is what they had been looking for.

“...it’s Rudy...”

Yep, it was.

Terry ignored the stammering and shocked comments from Rapsheeba and Snap as she rushed towards Penny. She used her arm to push those zoners away before she grabbed onto Penny’s shoulder a bit roughly. Penny yelped and tried to jerk to one side. Penny then glared up at her, baring her teeth.

“Hey, watch it!” Snap shouted as he walked over. “Don’t you dare....” He was stopped when Rapsheeba grabbed onto his arm, as though worried that things would get worse if he tried to do anything against Terry.

But Terry was more interested in Penny at the moment. “Are you sure it’s Rudy? That’s a strand of Rudy’s hair?” She took note of how her voice sounded. More...dutiful than she thought. She shook her head and tried to focus on the task at hand.

Penny nodded her head firmly. “Yes, this is definitely Rudy’s.” She looked back at the tree and said, “I wager that he probably came through here and...” Her voice trailed off, pressing her teeth against her lip. “I think he was probably attacked.”

Terry was a bit surprised with herself when she felt her eyes widen and her breath catching in her mouth. But then, should she really be surprised? “Which way...?”

Penny looked around a bit. She looked back at the tree, narrowing her eyes, once more studying it. Then she tried looking in another direction. She looked at the hair swaying in the wind, and she kept repeating this over and over again. But despite her urge to try to make her go faster, Terry held her tongue. Perhaps the little genius girl would have an idea on what to do next if she just...

Sure enough, Penny already had an answer faster than she had anticipated. Penny pointed in one direction. “That way.”

It took seconds for Terry realize that it was the same direction that they had been going on. So they had been goin on the right track this whole time. They didn’t really need to stop and do all of this .Terry felt almost cheated. Oh well, at least now they had something that they could do other than just wander around aimlessly.

Terry turned and looked in the direction Penny had indicated. She narrowed her eyes slowly as she tried to see any indication of Rudy actually being in that direction. She had little reason to doubt Penny’s judgement, though. It wasn’t like Penny wanted to miss the chance to save her little friend.

Without further hesitation, the group began to head forward once more. Terry silently hoped that they would find Rudy soon. Not knowing where he was or what was going on was....really grating on her mind, to say the least. As they continued, Terry could feel herself growing curious. She wondered just what could be going on with that child right now.

sss

Skrawl could feel himself swelling up with delight. This was working out far better than he could have planned it. He felt rather giddy inside and his mouth curled into a dark and twisted smile. He loved to see the look in Biclop’s eyes as he continued to hold Rudy like this. He could easily slash his throat open with his claws and the giant knew that, too. It would be a simple move.

“It’s all up to you, Biclops.” Skrawl taunted. “You have the power to save him.” He dared to move in a little closer, feeling a high level of confidence. “You can just say the word and I will let him go. Just one little word is all that it will take, Biclops.”

Of course, the giant still didn’t any anything. It wasn’t that Skrawl was really all that surprised. In fact, he had expected it. But a small part of him wished that Biclops would have been more predictable. He had thought for sure that the giant would have been right on it, saying ‘yes’ just to save Rudy. Hmm... perhaps Biclops was not as dumb as he thought he was.

Oh well, there were always ways to...shift things into his favor. It wouldn’t really take much. Just a small knick and Biclops would scream in horror for him to stop. So pathetic...

Skrawl just smiled as he continued waiting for Biclops to say something. The giant would have to reply soon or later, didn’t he? The jellybean-like zoner did have his claws up to Rudy’s throat after all. It wouldn’t really take that much for him to rip it open, and the giant was too far away to do anything to actually stop him. All he had to do was just wait.

Biclops opened and closed his mouth several times as he seemed to struggle with a response. His eyes shifted from side to side as he seemed to be trying to figure out what the best course of action would be. The giant was so conflicted, so stuck between choices. For him, all he could do was pick the least worrisome scenario. And both situations ended in things being better for Skrawl. His smile grew stronger. He didn’t have much to lose and so much to gain from this.

Oh poor Biclops, Skrawl thought sarcastically. He must be having so much difficulty deciding. It was up to him which path to defeat he was going to take. It was up to him to decide how he wanted this to end. And try as he might, he was not going to get any freebies out of this. There was no way that he was going to be able to come up with a third solution.

“Come on now, it can’t be that hard to decide.” Skrawl said, trying to sound as calm as possible. He lifted his hand up in gesture, turning his head to the side. “You have two options.” He raised up two fingers, and then lowered one down. “You just need to choose one.”

“I... You know I can’t do that.” Biclops finally said. He tried to look strong and tough, but his trembling body clearly adhered to something else going on inside of that puny mind of his. “I-I could never endanger ChalkZone like that!”

Skrawl looked over at Rudy. “So would you rather I kill the boy then?”

Biclops’s eyes widened in horror. “No! Don’t do that!”

Skrawl gave Biclops a particular look. A smirk, smug and daunting. He showed his teeth in something of a wild grin, and his eyes glinted of something terrible. He watched as Biclops’s face seemed to start to glow in fear. “Did you think there were any options? Do you believe, honest to gawd believe, that you could have both Rudy and the Chalk Mines?”

Biclops seemed to struggle to answer. “W-Well I...”

Skrawl pulled Rudy closer to himself, pressing his claws firmer against the boy’s throat. “Well that’s not going to happen.” He slowly cut Rudy’s skin, causing blood to flow. “Make up your mind, giant.”

Biclops took a step forward and reached out with a massive hand. He stopped midway as he noticed Skrawl putting in even more pressure. He trembled and shook, and slowly moved his hand slightly back. But he still remained in this position. His eyes were wide and filled with desperation, his mouth open and trembling. He looked so determined to do something...and yet couldn’t do so much as take even another tiny step forward.

It was so rewarding to see Biclops in such a helpless state. The giant clearly wanted to do something to stop the jellybean, but there was not much that he could do. If he got too close... Skrawl didn’t care how much the blood would have stung him. It would still be worth it in the end when he managed to get what he wanted, whether it be good way or better way.

“You have to...l-let him go. Please... You can’t do this to him...” Biclops was begging at this point. How precious. “Just release him and leave..”

Skrawl narrowed his eyes at this. “Leave? However said that I was leaving?” He gritted his teeth, grinding them together. Oh no, there’s no reason for me to consider doing that. I mean, what kind of deal would that be?” He motioned to himself. “I would get nothing. That’s not a fair trade! Really, Biclops. I thought you would do better than that!” He let out a small sigh and motioned to Biclops. “I’ll give you a few more seconds to decide. Or else, I will decide for you.”

Biclops noticed the way that Skrawl was flexing his claws and his face went pale. He shook his massive head in desperation. “Please, you can’t!” He took a small step forward, trying to say whatever that he could to dissuade the jellybean zoner. “Please, this isn’t fair...”

“Life isn’t fair.” Skrawl rolled his eyes. “And besides, you brought this on yourself.” Skrawl smilred as he noticed Biclops’s face. He knew that he was right. “You had me in your clutches and you could have locked me up. But instead, you took a chance with me. You wanted me to find Rudy in exchange for the Chalk Mines.” He held up Rudy a little higher. “Well I got your chalk boy right here. So why not just fulfill your end of the bargain?”

Biclops bit his lip, his eyes turning to the side. Emotion was flowing over his facial features. “I made a huge mistake. I was so desperate to get Rudy back that I....” The vertical eyes of the giant looked backd own at Skrawl. Horror and realization had dawned over them. He seemed to almost go breathless as he whispered, “...what have I done....?”

Skrawl got a little bored of waiting. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to keep his hideous smile. “I’ll tell you what you’ve done...” He held Rudy up firmly while putting his hand back near his throat. “This!” He pressed his talons against Rudy’s neck and started to apply pressure once more.

“No! Wait!” Biclops screamed in horror. Instincts seemed to have taken him over and he started to rush forward.

But he wouldn’t get there on time.

Skrawl chuckled as he tightened his arm muscles and prepared for the final blow. It would all be over in a second. All he needed to do was just press a little harder, yank his arm to the side, and then...

Suddenly, out of nowhere, something sailed in his direction. Skrawl could hear something whizzing by and he was barely aware of the razor-edged frisby before it came right back at him. Skrawl widened his eyes and only managed to move back a little to avoid the thing slicing into his neck. But his arm suffered some of the damage. He grunted and released Rudy and clutched his arm tightly. He looked down at the blood flowing. Growling lowly, he turned and looked around, his fury-filled eyes wanting to see just who had dared try to intervene.

“Genius girl..?!” Skrawl screeched. “Where the hell did you come from?!”

“Penny...?” Biclops whispered hopefully. He stared down at Penny in awe, looking just as shocked as Skrawl was that she was there, although he was more happy than angry.

Skrawl narrowed his eyes into slits as he stared at Penny and Snap, who both stood defensively not far away. The frisby that had been tossed at him was soon caught by Penny. She clutched it in her hand, holding it up slightly as though prepared to toss it again. Snap ground his teeth together and looked like he was ready to attack as well.

Skrawl had no idea how these two managed to get here so fast or where they came from. But he was not going to let them get away with what had happened. He straightened himself up, one arm raising up out at his side, his claws flexing anxiously. He paced around a little and watched his two foes intently. He wasn’t going to let them get the best of him so easily. If they thought that they were going to stop him....

Skrawl soon realized he had nearly forgotten about his trump card. He gave the two a twisted smile before turning his head to grab Rudy...

...only to realize that he wasn’t there.

What the...? Skrawl’s body went a little lax when he stared intently at the ground where Rudy used to be. Just how had he disappeared? He could have sworn that he was right there. He thought for sure that he had...

Skrawl let out a scream as he felt something slicing him. He saw that blasted frisby shooting by him yet again. Then it started to com back at him. He reached out with his hand and tried to grab onto it. But he got a nasty surprise when it sliced into his palm instead. He hissed and jerked back, clutching his hand to himself. He looked at the blood seeping from the injury and trembled. He then shot a glare over at Penny, snarling at her smug smile.

“What’s the matter, Skrawl?” Penny taunted, holding up the frisby yet again. “You can’t handle a little game of frisby?”

Snap nodded his head, his smirk looking twice as smug as Penny’s. “Yeah! Do you want to try again? Or are you too afraid of the ‘terrifying frisby’? You too chicken?”

Skrawl pulled his lips back into a snirl. He could feel his blood slowly heating up, overtaking him. He forgot about Rudy. He forgot about Biclops. All that he could focus on right now was just these two little brats. He gritted his teeth tightly as he began to slowly move towards them. His large body shook the ground as he pounded his foot down with each stride. He tensed up his hand, readying them to strike. His mismatched eyes glared intently at the two.

“Do you want try me? Do you want to test me?” Skrawl seethed, his voice gaining a growly edge to it. He tried to use his height advantage to assert his dominance, his massive shadow casting over these two brats. “Do you really want to invoke my...”

He was stopped when Penny struck forward with the frisby. She used the sharp edge to slice across his head, creating a thin red bleeding line. Skrawl let out a yelp and pressed his hand against the shallow injury. He could feel the blood slowly dripping down his face. He looked at the red fluid that now stained the palm of his hand. He formed a tight fist with his hand before turning to glare at Penny.

“Oh you are going to pay for that, genius girl...” Skrawl hissed under his breath. He raised his hand up menacingly as he took another step forward. Penny and Snap moved closer to each other as they took a step back, glaring at Skrawl intently. “You are going to pay so much...”

At this point, Skrawl didn’t care about Rudy or the Chal Mines. All that mattered to him right now was making these two pay for there interference. Hehehe...that would make for a good consolation prize, wouldn’t it...?


	4. Part 4

“Wait! Hold on! Just what are we doing?!”

“We have to get him away from that....that thing!”

“He didn’t tell us about that!”

“We’ll question him later, just keep running!”

Vinnie wasn’t really sure how much longer they should keep running. Their goal was to try to remain hidden, right? At least him and Terry. They would ruin their plans if the zoners saw them too early, especially when they were carrying an unconscious Rudya way from...gawd knows what that thing was.

But it wasn’t like they had much of another choice. It was either this or just risk getting attacked. Then there was that giant that...

“Over there!” Terry shouted. “There’s a small cave thing there! Let’s hide here!”

Vinny turned his head to see what appeared to be a large cave structure just as Terry pointed out. It was pretty massive in size with a very inviting opening. He could tell that this thing would have plenty of tunnels for them to hide in, making it difficult for that monster to find them. A smile spread along his face, relief washing over him. He didn’t hesitate to start running in that direction.

He and Terry moved over there as quickly as possible. Terry carried Rudy against herself, making sure that he didn’t slip. The boy’s arm swung back and forth due to the running, but was otherwise held up pretty well. Terry’s narrowed eyes seemed to look this way and that, ensuring that there was no one around here. There was some sort of sign, but they didn’t bother reading it as they entered into this large cave.

He was immediately taken aback by the large scale of this place. He had expected something more...cave-y. It’s not that this didn’t look like a cave. It had that feel to it. But he didn’t think that it would be so bright in here. Everything seemed to glow white. He was surprised that he didn’t have to shield his eyes or anything. He gritted his teeth a little as he kept moving forward. But he did took immediate notice of something that was pretty much a disappointment.

Where were the hiding spots? It was just one big open area. How were they going to...

Wait, there seemed to be side tunnels around here. Along the walls, he could see entrances to other locations in the cave. Maybe if they went down one of them, they would be able to find....something that they could use to hide in. Some area that was safer than out there, in the open where there was almost nowhere that they could hide.

“Let’s go this way.” Terry said as she motioned her hand down one direction. “I think this might be our best shot.”

Vinnie turned his head to follow her gaze. He could see the tunnel immediately. It wasn’t far and it looked like it moved in pretty deeply. He looked back at her and nodded his head once. “Yeah, seems like it could work.”

The two of them, Rudy still in tow, began to move towards that tunnel. They slowed down a little, seeing how that jellybean monster thing didn’t seem to be right behind them. They must have outran that creature. Or maybe Penny and Snap had been still distracting it. He wondered for a moment how long they would be able to keep its attention. Well whatever, at least he and Terry found some place that they could hide out in for a while.

Vinnie growled as he noticed something bright and sparkly in the corner of his eyes. He raised his hand up and tried to shield his eyes, his teeth bared. Just what the heck was going on. Why was there so much sparkling? It seemed to be coming from the ceiling. He turned his head up to glare at the annoying object, only to freeze in place.

Could it be...?

It was....

Magic chalk.

There was magic chalk strewn all across the ceiling... Hundreds of pieces...

Vinnie couldn’t help but just stare at the ceiling above him, slowly looking left and right. He nearly forgot what he was supposed to do. He was too busy just staring in awe. He hadn’t expected to come across something like this. Of all the things he thought he’d run into, this was not one of them.

Terry hissed at him, “Get down, you idiot!”

Vinnie just kept staring at the ceiling of the cave. “I don’t believe it...”

“What are you talking about?” Terry asked, her voice laced with emotion. “Why are...” Suddenly she stopped. The sudden silence made Vinnie realize what had happened: it would seem that Terry had finally realized what had he had been looking at. “Oh my...”

Vinnie nodded his head even though Terry probably didn’t see it. He couldn’t stop staring at the ceiling above him, his mouth partially open. It was such a glorious sight to be hold. So....this was were the magic chalk grew, eh? This is what Rudy had told them. The grand central for the magic chalk. Where they could get an endless supply. It was all right here. There was so much of them... Would they ever even run out? Was that even possible?

Vinnie finally looked over at Terry. The woman had frozen herself in place, still holding onto Rudy, her head tilted up so that she could see what was above her. Her eyes were wide and filled with shock, her mouth dropping open. She slowly looked left and right as she took everything in. It was hard to tell if she was going to say anything or not. She looked like she had just suffered a BSOD or something similar.

Vinnie looked back at the pieces of magic chalk. Most of them were high up and would require some tools to get down. He didn’t see any sign or any evidence of anything like that here. It made him wonder how Rudy managed to get them down. Could that giant they passed have anything to do with that? Rudy did mention something about a giant guarding the mines, didn’t he?

Well, that would explain why they were able to get in here without much problem. But now that meant they had a new problem on their hadn. He turned his attention back to Terry, his eyes furrowing into slits. “We need to hide before that giant thing comes back.”

Terry blinked her eyes a few times before shaking her head. She looked back at Vinnie, her facial expression still balancing between shocked and confused. “The giant...?” Vinnie narrowed his eyes. Terry shook her head and widened her eyes a little. “Oh yes, yes... The giant!” She looked down at Rudy for a moment before taking a second to look behind her, towards the tunnel that they had been heading towards. “Let’s go in here a little deeper. I’m sure we can find a place to hide in here.”

Vinnie nodded his head. He didn’t try to fight back against the idea. They had to go in somewhere. He looked back at the entrance before he disappeared around the corner. While they had no idea on just when the giant was going to come back, he did also know that he could still come over at any time. It was best that they just keep on going.

This tunnel did snake its way in deeply at least. It wounda round like some kind of a serpent and had a downward tilt. There was a bit of a dank smell filling his nostrils and he snorted, fighting against it. There didn’t seem to be any rooms for a while, and the ground looked like it was more freshly dug. A part of him wondered if Rudy had made this tunnel, or maybe it was the giant. Oh well, didn’t matter anyway, so long as it gave them a place to hide.

Eventually the tunnel did end in a more open area. This part of the caverns actually looked even more cave-like. No magic chalk hung down and it was a lot darker here. The only sources of light were some small red candles, similar to what he and Terry would see in a traffic accident. It made him wonder again if Rudy had used this place before, and it was harder to shake off the thought. It was a little harder to get himself to turn away from that and keep on moving forward.

He looked out in front of him and tried to find some place that they could rest. They had run for a while and there was little reason to believe that they were still being pursued at the moment. They deserved a bit of a rest, before their burning legs would pop off and crumble, which he imagined would happen at this rate if they didn’t stop to sit down soon.

He looked over a few more times and eventually he noticed something that looked pretty promising. Perhaps this area would do? There was something of a small room over there, curved a little, partially sealed off. It was near some of those weird lights so it shouldn’t be too dark inside. And it would be hard for that damn giant to really notice them in there. He looked over at Terry and gently grabbed onto her arm and tugged it.

Pointing over at the spot, he said, “Perhaps that would be a good place to rest?”

“Rest?” Terry tilted her head in confusion. “Why are we going to rest? We need to keep moving!”

“Yes I know, but we do have some time to rest, don’t we? My legs are killing me and I’m sure you’re not happy about carrying Rudy around everywhere.” Vinnie noticed that Terry couldn’t say anything to that. He used that as something to spring from as he motioned towards the area once more. “Come on, sitting down for a little while is not going to hurt, right?”

Terry looked back over at the place that Vinnie had indicated. She remaine still for a few moments, biting her lip firmly. Then she looked back at Vinnie and gave a slow nod of her head. “Well it’s better than nothing, anyway.”

“Just what I was thinking.” Vinnie agreed.

The two of them, along with the unconscious Rudy, headed over to that spot. They were still careful to look around and make sure that they avoided anything that might be troublesome. Maybe the giant had hidden something in here or maybe there were zoners hidden around that were just ready to strike.

Thankfully, they ran into none of those things, but they were still worried about what they could run into. This didn’t mean that they weren’t in the clear and they knew it. They still had to keep their guard up. This was unknown territory. This was something that Rudy did not tell them about. Not this particular room, anyway. This was an unknown that they hadn’t accounted for.

Vinnie was relieved when they were able to sit down. He put himself up against the small curving wall and slid down. He felt his feet almost sing with delight, happy to finally be off the ground. He pressed his back further a little, almost ready to just go to sleep and get some rest. He stretched his arms upward and moved them behind his head. He crossed one leg over the other. He then looked over at Terry with one eye open, mumbling something under his breath.

“So what do you think we should do with him?”

Terry looked over at Vinnie, her eyes wide in confusion.

Vinnie just shrugged his shoulders in response. “I mean, we have him alone. I was wondering if you planned on waking him up to talk to him or...”

“He hasn’t woken up at all. He’s not responding.” Terry told him. Her eyes narrowed, but he could detect a hint of worry. He made no comment on that as his own eyes looked at the boy. Now that he looked at him more clearly, there did appear to be something more readily wrong with him than he had realized. “You think he’s hurt?”

“He was unconscious when we found him. I think that jellybean monster thing did something to him.” Terry growled as she looked down at Rudy’s still form. “But I don’t see anything on his head or anything serious enough that would have caused it.” She frowned deeply as she seemed to struggle to figure out what could be going on.

Vinnie slowly folded his arms, nodding his head once. “Yeah, that is....” He suddenly stopped as something flickered in his head. He took in a sharp gasp, his teeth becoming clenched. He looked back at Terry. “What if he... What if it’s his heart?”

Terry looked at Vinnie in shock before looking back down at Rudy. She put her hand over his chest and applied pressure. “His heartrate seems slow.”

Vinnie frowned slightly at this. He struggled to think of what could have happened. He was aware of the pacemaker that Rudy had and how he couldn’t get too worked up or else it would cause strain on his heart. He tried to think of how things came to this. Rudy seemed fine earlier when they had sent him out. Just how did this happen?

Then he suddenly realized it. Perhaps it had been him and Terry. They did send him out here a few times to get things. And Rudy did say that he had a hard time trying to make sure that he wasn’t seen. And they had seen him getting excited, both negatively and positively. Then there was that giant and jellybean zoner... It all seemed to come together so nicely. He couldn’t help but realize that perhaps what ultimately happened is... well, things had accumulated. And this was the result.

Rudy had ended up overworking himself, it seemed. And those zoners, if Rudy had been running from them, then he might have just ended up driving the nail in the coffin. That could have been the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

The realization caused Vinnie to feel conflicting emotions swelling up inside of him. He put his hand to his head, a dizziness overtaking him. He struggled to keep himself from swaying back and forth too much, but it was getting to be pretty difficult to just hold still. He rubbed his head and shook it, trying to brush off the confusion and try to concentrate. He looked back over at the small boy as he licked his lips nervously.

Now the question was...

What were they going to do about this...?

“Maybe we should take him back to the Real World...” Vinnie finally spoke, his voice low.

“But we can’t just leave! The zoners out there...” Terry paused herself, staring at Vinnie with eyes that were wide and filled with....something that Vinnie could not identify. “They might...”

Vinnie hissed softly. “Well would you rather he die?”

Terry seemed to almost stiffen at this, jolting as though she did not expect Vinnie to say something like that. It was like it had come out of the left field, but Vinnie knew better. This shouldn’t come as a shock to her, and it was time that she fully stopped denying how she was feeling about this. He slowly got up to his feet, his eyes remaining narrowed as he glared at her.

“Don’t look at me that way. You knew about his heart condition.” He pointed a finger at her. “And I also know that you fantasized about killing him. Is this what you wanted?” Terry flinched a little. Vinnie just sighed and shook his head. “Perhaps we should have done that from the beginning. But because of this stupid plan, now look at where we are.”

Terry looked like she was struggling to say something. But it was clear that she was having too much difficulty in doing so. It was like she just...was caught in some kind of mind twister or something that was preventing her from speaking. All Vinnie could do was just frown at her, becoming more and more reminded on just how far they had sunk with this.

It was true, after all. If they had just gotten rid of Rudy from the start, they wouldn’t have these conflicting emotions to worry about. They were both caught in that tangle in their mind, fighting between hurting him and helping him, between hating him and liking him. They were unable to do anything with Rudy without angering at least one part of them. They were trapped in the middle of this.

And it was all because of Terry’s stupid plan.

Vinnie glared at Rudy’s unconscious form, his hand forming a tight, shaking fist. Perhaps they should do something now and.... He let out a slow exhale as he relaxed his hand. But for what anyway? He could not deny that he had started to grow too attached to Rudy to think of hurting him now.

Looking back Terry, he quickly realized what needed to be done. They both realized what had to be done.

“I’m going to head up to see if I can’t find Penny or Snap.” Vinnie informed her. “If not, I’ll try to find a good place to place down a portal.” Vinnie paused for a moment, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “Of course that might take a while, given what Rudy said.” He straightened himself up, his eyes narrowing. “I’ll head out now. Stay here with the boy. I’ll try to be back as soon as I can.”

Terry said nothing as Vinnie turned and left her alone with Rudy.

sss

“So you see, we had a good reason to trespass.” Mr. Tabootie said softly.

“Yeah, we weren’t getting the proper help that we needed.” Mrs. Tabootie added in. “We need to find our children and we have reason to suspect that they’re here somewhere.”

The biker had stood there silently as the three adults all explained to him what had been going on. They remained silent now to give him a chance to respond. But from how he was still glaring at them, it didn’t seem like they had made much progress with him.

“So you’re saying that you wanted permission to violate the privacy of everyone where....just so you can find a couple of little children?”

Mrs. Sanchez felt her heart tighten up at that comment. She couldn’t really blame the man too much. Some people were a private sort and their actions did seem to violate privacy. They were trespassing on private property after all, where these people pay to have some alone time.

But considering the situation, you’d think that he’d make an exception to that.

“Listen here, our children were kidnapped.” Mrs. Sanchez hissed, her voice low. “I understand wanting privacy, but isn’t the safety of our children more important?”

The man before them gave a small huff sound. He glared at them for a few moments, or at least, it looked like he did. Hard to tell with his face still being covered by the helmet like that. But even without the face, it seemed readily clear that this mean did not believe their words and he was not going to let them pass.

Mrs. Sanchez was doing her best not to lash out the man. But seriously, why couldn’t he understand their situation? Why couldn’t he let them pass? What was wrong with them trying to find their children? Did he not care? Was he really, truly valuing his privacy over the lives of a couple of kids? So much of Mrs. Sanchez’s fiber and very core just wanted to slap the man in the face. The only thing holding her back was the fact that the man looked to be stronger than any of them and she didn’t want to get hurt in the process.

Well that, and she had a feeling that the man would call the police on them.

There had to be someway to get what they needed. Someway to make him see that they had no other choice. She refused to give up until they found a way. She didn’t come all the way to look for her daughter just to turn back now. They were close to discovering the whereabouts of their children. She could just feel it.

But what else could they try? It seemed like they had told him everything already, and still he would not budge. He just stood there with his arms folded, tapping his foot, waiting for them to say something else. It seemed really obvious at this point that he either didn’t care about the kids....or he thought that they were lying to him.

“Please, mister...” Mrs. Sanchez finally spoke again, breaking the silence. Her voice squeaked a little as she struggled to make sure that she didn’t sound too upset. She took a small step closer, rubbing her hands together. “This is really...really very important. We can’t let this slip from us. You have to have some kind of heart, right?”

The man did not answer.

Mrs. Sanchez motioned her hand out towards him. “Please, we’re just desperate parents looking for our children. They’ve been missing for...” Her voice trailed off. She did know that Penny was not gone as long as Rudy, but in this case... “Months... They were gone for months...”

The man turned his head to one side. He inhaled deeply and let out his breath. His voice still sounded a bit gruff, but to some degree, it seemed a little softer than before. “You keep insisting on finding these kids of yours. Haven’t you called the authorities?”

Mr. Tabootie nodded his head. “They were informed as soon as we found out they were missing.” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “You don’t think that we just sat around and did nothing, did you?”

The biker just shrugged his shoulders. “Look, if you informed the authorities, you should just let them do their job. They’ll find your tikes for you.”

Mrs. Tabootie let out a loud growl at this. She moved in a little closer. The sight of the large woman approaching him seemed to have startled the man. He jerked and nearly caused his snow bike to fall to the ground. Mrs. Tabootie almost looked as though she towered over him, despite being about a foot shorter. “Don’t you think we’ve done that? We’ve waited and waited and waited... But they found nothing!”

The biker flinched, hissing softly. “Look lady, I...”

“We’ve given them plenty of chances but they keep screwing up!” Mrs. Tabootie pushed a finger against the biker, which caused them to yelp a little. “We are not going to stand idly by while those creeps do...whatever it is that they’re doing!”

Mr. Tabootie and Mrs. Sanchez couldn’t bring themselves to say anything. They could only just look at each other and then at Mrs. Tabootie in shock, their mouths hanging open. Neither of them expected things to turn in this direction. Neither of them thought that things would go this far. There stood Mrs. Tabootie, practically backing the biker guy into a corner with no way to go. It was...unprecedented.

The biker didn’t look like he could say anything. He was in too much shock of what was happening to try to do anything against Mrs. Tabootie. He just raised his hand up and started to back away slowly, trying to put distance between the two of them. But he was obviously failing, with Mrs. Tabootie coming in closer and closer until he was right up against a tree.

“So you listen here, pal...” Mrs. Tabootie growled, her eyes practically glowing. The biker leaned away from her. “We were going to keep looking for our children here. We are not going to leave until we find them. We don’t care if we have to search every single fucking house. We will find them.” She put her face in close, her finger pressing up against the man’s chest. “And you are not going to say a word about it. Do you understand me?”

The biker man stuttered and stumbled with his words. His body seemed to shake a little, emotion rushing through his helmet-hidden face. He opened his mouth to try to speak, but he couldn’t seem to form words. He licked his lips slowly and took in a shuddering breath. Then, slowly, he lowered his hands down and, to Mrs. Sanchez’s and Mr. Tabootie’s surprise, he started to nod his head very slowly.

“Y-Yes... I... I understand, miss...” He took a few steps back, as though afraid of incurring the woman’s wrath more.

Mrs. Tabootie just snorted at him. “I thought so.” She looked over at the others, noticing their wide eyes. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

Mr. Tabootie and Mrs. Sanchez glanced at each other nervously at first. They both wondered just how truthful the man was with those words. It sounded like he was only saying it to please the large woman. He did sound pretty scared when he spoke. What if he reported them after they tried to leave?

They soon both realized that they couldn’t wait to figure that out. They needed to get going now if they wanted a chance to find their children. So they didn’t hesitate another moment to go and follow Mrs. Tabootie as she marched away from the biker man, heading down the same path that they had been going in earlier.

sss

Penny widened her eyes when she saw Skrawl raising his hand up to try and strike her down. She clenched her teeth and braced herself. She waited until the right moment before jumping off to the side. There was a quick blur and she could practically hear those claws banging against the ground as Skrawl missed her entirely. She moved a good distance away before turning around and glaring back at Skrawl.

The jellybean shook his head before turning to glare at her. “You’re making this too difficult. Try holding still. We can end this faster that way.”

Penny could feel her blood chilling at this comment. Skrawl was usually not quite like this. Well, he was always dangerous. But lately, he seemed a bit more so. As though he had gone nuts. It made her wonder just what had happened between him and Biclops that caused this to happen.

But though Biclops stood not far, now was not a good time to ask. Literally, right after she thought about that, she had to jump back again when Skrawl tried to slash at her face. Penny quickly raised up the metal pole she had drawn moments earlier, stopping the jellybean’s attack the best that she could, gritting her teeth. This went on for several moments before she saw a flash of blur and saw that Snap had launched himself at Skrawl.

“Hey, back off, you creepazoid!” Snap shouted as he collided with Skrawl. His hands gripped onto his face tightly, looking as though he was ready to tear it off.

Skrawl let out a screech of pain as he shook his head from side to side. “Let me go, you little blue brat!” He reached up to try to grab Snap, but the little zoner had thought ahead and started to crawl upwards. “As soon as I get a hold of you, I’m going to break your neck!”

At this point, Snap had gotten on top of Skrawl’s head. A smile spread along his face, almost twisted. Penny knew what was to come, but that didn’t stop her from flinching as it happened. “Maybe you should try this on for size?!” With that, Snap grabbed onto Skrawl’s antenna and yanked them as hard as he could.

Skrawl’s eyes widened like saucers in an instant. “Gah! Let go! I said let go!”

Snap, however, refused to listen. He continued to pull on the antenna hard, looking as though he was trying to yank them out. Skrawl kept screaming in pain, his voice echoing throughout the area. It caused Penny to flinch, gritting her teeth. She raised up her hands and covered her ears when the screams got too loud.

All the while, Skrawl continued to try to get Snap off of him. He reached up and tried to grab onto Snap’s body, a limb or whatever, to yank him off. He twisted and turned himself from side to side, struggling to do whatever that he could in order to make the zoner release him. But Snap was a stubborn little fellow and refused to release Skrawl, no matter what he tried.

Eventually, Skrawl did manage to seize the zoner by his leg and hoist him up. He glared intently at Snap, showing his large, yellow teeth at him. He then tossed him into the ground. The small blue and white zoner crashed and rolled around like some kind of doll. He pushed his hands against the ground to lift himself up and then he shook his head. He looked over just in time to see Skrawl rushing at him.

“Penny! Help!” Snap cried out as Skrawl managed to slash Snap across his chest. The marks were shallow, but the blow was still enough to knock the little zoner backwarsd. Snap tried to get up, but it was clear that he would not escape the secon attack. All Snap could do was cringe and wait for the blow.

Penny reacted as fast as she could. Steadying her metal pole, she aimed right where Skrawl was, mainly targeting his side. She took a step back and then tossed the pole as hard as she could. It sailed through the air and it struck right where she had hoped.

Skrawl cried out in pain as he staggered from the blow. It wasn’t much and didn’t distract him for long. But it was long enough that Snap was able to slip away from him. He rushed back over to Penny before turning around and adopting a more aggressive stance. He formed tight fists with his hands and looked ready to charge again, despite his position just seconds ago. Penny turned her attention fully onto Skrawl.

She wondered just how long this jellybean was going to be trying to fight them. How long was it going to take before he realized that he should just back down? Was he going to keep fighting them until something broke? She wanted to be more negotiative than this, but would that be possible with someone like this?

As Skrawl started to come towards them again, Penny lookd around for a moment to try to figure out where Vinnie, Terry, and Rudy were. She recalled seeing them racing off earlier. Should she and Snap just abandon the fight to go find them? Or should they stay and fight? She feared that she might end up leading Skrawl to them if she ended up running after them. Perhaps it was best to stand and....

Wait, where was Biclops? Penny looked around for the giant, but he seemed to have disappeared. Had he gone after Vinnie, Terry, and Rudy? Did he percieve the two adults as a threat righ taway? Didn’t he know about Vinnie at all? She recalled Rudy and Snap said something about that.

She also realized Rapsheeba was missing as well. Had she gone with Biclops? Or did she try to go home? A part of Penny kind of hoped that Rapsheeba went to some kind of safe area. She had already been through so much. She would hate to see her have to go through more trouble. She deserved a break. She...

Penny realized she had accidentally distracted herself for too long when she saw Skrawl charging at her again. She gritted her teeth before moving herself back as quickly as she could, barely dodging Skrawl’s attempt to ram her. Dust was kicked up from the ground as Skrawl turned. His eyes, practically glowing with rage, stared right at her. He kicked at the ground like a bull and went after her again. Penny quickly raised up the magic chalk, the tip sparkling, and tried to think of what she should draw to stop him.

“Uh, Buckette...?” Snap spoke softly. “If you’re going to draw something, you better do it now...” He tugged at her arm a little as Skrawl got closer. “Penny...”

It took a moment to figure out, but an idea to click in with her. Penny took a step forward, Snap immediately moving behind her, as she raised the chalk and quickly drew something. Lines rapidly filled the air, coming into a tangible form, and then...

“What the...?!” Skrawl didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence. Without warning, he was suddenly pushed backwards, his body becoming entangled in a thick cob-like web. “What did you do?! What the hell is this?!”

Penny stood there, panting as she pointed the weapon towards Skrawl. It looked like a gun, but it served an entirely different purpose. The tip of it still smoked a little from being recently shot. She kept it aimed at Skrawl, taking note of the web strings calling down and covering Skrawl almost like a blanket.

Skrawl twisted and turned in the net, trying to free himself. The struggling only made it even tighter, wrapping around him more firmly. It was amusing to watch, or at least it would have been had she not remembered the seriousness of the situation and what Skrawl had tried to do to them. Narrowing her eyes further, she realized that he would need to be apprehanded.

Turning her attention to Snap, she said, “You go on ahead. I’ll...”

She didn’t get a chance to finish. With a loud yell, Skrawl broke free of the web. Penny and Snap looked on in shock as Skrawl charged at them.

sss

Terry wasn’t really sure what to do at this point. She would have rather gone with Vinnie so they could stay together. It was a bit intense being alone in this huge place where she’s never been before. As much as it was difficult for her to admit it, Rudy being awake would have helped her feel a little better. At least he knew what to expect from this place.

Yet the boy still laid in her lap, unconscious. She felt her teeth pressing into her lip as she looked down and watched Rudy carefully. The boy was still breathing, so that was a good thing. It was slightly shaky, but not too worse for wear. Rudy didn’t seem like he was in any pain right now. His facial features, however, seemed to paint a slightly different picture. This was more than enough information for her to determine that he must have had some kind of heart attack, likely induced by moving around so much.

This did cause a confliction of emotions to rise up inside of her. On the one hand, she was close to achieving her revenge. Isn’t that what she wanted? She had struggled so hard to harm this boy in the past. She had relished in his fear and his pain.

And yet...

She couldn’t deny that things had started to shifti n her mind. She couldn’t pretend that being forced...no...forcing herself to hang around the boy longer, trying to gain his trust, it had a profound impact on how she felt about him. And now when she looked at him like this, she no longer could feel much pleasure from it. She could only feel worry.

Would that change? Perhaps... If Rudy gave her a reason to, maybe she would flip back to how she was before and deal with him. There was still that part of her that wanted to see him get punished for what he had done to her. A part of her still wanted to take away this world from him as payback. A part of her wanted to strip him of his happiness.

But she wondered how easily she could go through with it now. Would she even be able to do it? Or would she be locked in this ordeal, unable to think of what to do or carry out any action? She hissed at the headache forming and rubbed her temples.

She looked down at Rudy once more, pondering what she should do. Perhaps she and Vinnie should have gotten rid of him. They had their chance to kill him, but she insisted that they take him to get information and then she suggested Stockholm Syndrome... What a mess she put herself in.

She was interrupted when she felt the small boy stir. She adjusted her arms a little as she watched Rudy’s eyes start to flutter open. Slowly, the boy looked up at her. Struggling to smile, she said, “Hello... How are you feeling..?”

sss

Rudy let out a small groan as his eyes fluttered open. He blinked a few times as he opened his jaw to yawn. He took in a sharp breath and shook his head once. He swallowed a bit and smacked his lips together. He looked around, trying to get a handle on things, wondering what was going on and where he was.

At first, he couldn’t make sense of his location. His vision was blurred and the colors mixed in together. He blinked a few times, but for a while, his vision remained blurred and he was unable to make out specific details. He closed his eyes once more and rubbed his head.

Ugh, everything felt like it hurt. But mostly his chest. He couldn’t figure out why. It was like someone had stomped on his chest. He moved his hand across it and he could feel his heart beating against his ribs a little harder than he would have thought. Did they seen a bit more erratic? He couldn’t tell. But darn this headache... He rubbed his temples firmly as he tried to fight off the swollen sensation in his sinuses. It was like someone had taken a jackhammer and put it to his head and...

He took in another yawn and deep breath and reopened up his eyes. His vision seemed to have improved greatly, and he was now able to tell that he was in some kind of a cave system. There were small red dots around him... Strange... He didn’t know of any place quite like this. What was going on...?

He became aware of being held. There was some warm body next to him. Didn’t he hear someone speak before? His hearing was muddled initially and he couldn’t tell what was being said. But surely there was someone there trying to communicate with him. With his head still throbbing, Rudy looked up at the person trying to speak with him.

His vision was still blurry, but not too much that he couldn’t tell that it was a woman with tall red hair and some green outfit. There was something familiar about her. Like he should know who this person was. But his mind was so riddled with confusion and aches and pains and so muggy... he just couldn’t bring himself to really worry about that at first.

It got a little more complicated when he felt something moving along his shoulder and arm. Was it this person? Whatever it was, it... it felt nice. Rudy could feel some of the pain starting to go away as he allowed the hand to move along him. It certainly felt a lot nicer than the pain in his chest, that’s for sure. He shut his eyes softly and just enjoyed it.

“Are you feeling alright, Rudy?” The woman asked. “You...gave us all a scare there earlier.”

Earlier? What was she talking about? Rudy shut his eyes a bit more firmly as he struggled to think of what she could be referring to. His head began to ache even worse as he tried, but regardless, he still kept at it. He searched through his internal memory bank in his brain and struggled to find some kind of an answer. But his head kept pounding and it kept making him hurt worse and he just...

He could soon feel something coming back to his mind. The more the felt the pain, the more that he started to remember something. Crawling through the back of his head, trying to grab at him, refusing to leave him alone... He struggled to make sense of it. Something was coming into view in the back of his head. Something related to this pain. But what was...

Then it all just came at him out of nowhere. Pounding after pounding, the flashes of pain brought more and more of the memories back to him. He felt his body going stiff and he took in a sharp gasp of air. He ignored the woman’s questioning of him being all right as his eyes bulged almost beyond their points. And he could feel himself constantly hearing something echoing, something refusing to let him go, no matter what he tried or did.

And then that’s when he began to see it in his head. That’s when he started to remember.

The kidnapping..

The abuse...

The shooting...

....Terry Bouffant...

Rudy suddenly remembered being kidnapped and cared for by Terry and....Vinnie, yes, him. He remembered a sharp pain in his leg, something about it being broken. But could they have been responsible? He didn’t know, but something about the sharp pain in his chest made him think otherwise.

A rush of emotion rose up inside of him and his body trembled. Suddenly these gentle touches began to feel more like ice pricks being pressed up against his flesh. He tried to wriggle a little, but that only seemed to make him feel worse. It was like he was pressed between a blade and a sharp place. He had nowhere he could go.

And yet he couldn’t just hold still. His racing mind told him that he needed to get out of here. He needed to try to ge taway. He couldn’t just stay here any longer. If he didn’t get a move on, he...

“Rudy?!” Terry exclaimed, who had finally taken notice of his erratic behavior. “What are you doing? Hold still, you’re going to hurt yourself more!”

But Rudy could not hold still. Not any longer. His racing heart pounded even harder in his chest, and along with that came a sharp, tugging pain. And while that pain was there, his brain sharply reminded him of what this woman had done to him. He eventually could not hold back any longer and he started to wriggle himself from side to side, attempting to free himself.

“Rudy! Stop it!”

Rudy moved his head around wildly, his feet kicking at the ground. “Let me go! I don’t want this!”

“Rudy, what are you.... Hey, stop it now! You hear me? You can’t be moving around like this! Rudy...!” Terry struggled to hold onto the squirming Rudy, tightening her grip on him as he jerked his body from side to side. She refused to let him go, refused to relent. “Come on now, you have to calm down!”

Rudy refused to listen to her. At this point, his mind had started to go a little haywire. He was unable to control his emotions, unable to stop himself from panicking. He could feel his blood rushing through his body. He could feel burning adrenaline filling him up inside. And there was nothing that he could do about it except just..react to it.

Fear and terror rose up inside of his mind, coupled with the memories of what happened. He closed his eyes and he could see Terry’s evil smile. He could sense her true intentions. He could practically feel her try to claw into his skin. He remembered the situation with ChalkZone and realized that she must have been using him. Or was he just being paranoid? No, his brain was telling him to run. Get out of there, while he still could.

Running on raw instinct at this point, Rudy turned his head over and he bit down as hard as he could against Terry’s arm. The move caused her to scream loudly and she released him, staggering back. That gave Rudy the chance to get up and flee.

After that point, he no longer could tell what was going on. It was all a gigantic blur to him. He could only recall getting up and running. But where he was exactly and where he was going, he had no clue.

“Rudy, get back here! Stop running! You’re going to make it worse!”

Rudy ignored her as he struggled to run as fast as he could. He soon realized that he couldn’t make himself go that quick. He was constantly swaying to and fro, side to side. He felt himself hitting the wall a few times and he wasn’t able to keep his legs from wobbling. Overall, he was just feeling unusually weaker and he had no clue as to why. What was going on with him?

Something with his heart? He was aware of a dull ache in his heart that was getting stronger as he ran. He could feel himself just barely starting to slow down. He put his hand to his chest and he looked down. What was he going to...

“Gotcha!” Shouted Terry.

Rudy jolted as he felt arms wrapping around him. He let out a scream and struggled against Terry. The two fought with each other, Terry trying to drag him back and Rudy trying to get away.

Eventually, the two stepped onto something that just...cracked and gave way. A piece of thin ground? Whatever it was, the moment that the two of them looked down and realized what was going on, it was too late. Without warning, they dropped down.

“Aaaahhh!” Terry and Rudy screamed as they plummeted down, showing no signs of stopping.

sss

“Ugh... why did I fucking agree to do this? I should have made her go and do this. Gawd...” Vinnie grumbled to himself as he continued to move through the cave. He couldn’t quite remember how he had gotten in here, but he still moved on. He would eventually find his way out. It’s not like they made any huge deviations to their path.

Already the trail began to feel somewhat familiar. Though he silently wished that he had been paying more attention. This would have been so much easier if he had just...well...took better note of the area around him. He would have been out of here sooner instead of constantly second guessing himself.

Oh well, he supposed none of that mattered now. He did see some kind of light at the end of this tunnel. The familiar white at the end of this long and winding path. It took him a few seconds to slowly realize that, yeah that’s right, they didn’t actually turn anywhere before. That should make getting out a piece of cake, right? Though he had to wonder about that giant..

The short human tried not to let himself get too worked up over this. He tried not to allow himself to succumb to fear. That would only slow himself down. He did his best to focus on moving forward. Who cares if the giant is there? He could just grab a piece of magic chalk and...

...oh that’s right. Most of them were out of reach. Good luck to himself in trying to grab one while the giant was barrelling towards him.

Well, he could always try negotiating with him. Maybe tell him that Rudy was hurt and send him deeper in the cave. Sure he would be putting Terry in danger but... was she in danger at all? From what Rudy said that giant might be more interested in helping Rudy than trying to attack Terry. So it could be all good. But then again, he really didn’t know.

...well he supposed that he could figure out something later on.

He kept on walking, and eventually, he could find himself stepping out of the tunnel and he could see the large, white area that he and Terry were in earlier. With the sparkling magic chalk overhead and the wide open area. He didn’t see any giant at the moment, so that was a plus. He should use this moment to head on out and...

Suddenly he could feel himself bumping into something soft and warm. He struggled to move back and he tensed up, getting ready to fight whoever it was. He quickly relaxed when he saw that it was just Rapsheeba. But that only brought more questions.

“What are you....” He started to say.

Rapsheeba immediately cut him off. “He’s here! Biclops, that one human is here!”

Vinnie widened his eyes as she shouted this. It was so loud that it nearly broke his ear drums. He staggered back a little and rubbed his hands against his ears a little to try to get rid of the sensations. He shook his head once and glared back at Rapsheeba, baring his teeth. He opened his mouth to speak, but immediately stopped himself when something large overshadowed him. He lifted his head up and he found himself staring face to face with the massive giant himself.

Vinnie immediately froze, his mouth dropping open. He could see those eyes staring at him. Vertical, unnatural.... The creature’s facial features were contorted and furrowed and heavily creased. There was a distinctive glint in his eyes and the teeth that were bared. There was nothing remotely happy about the face that he was making and whatever intent that the giant had for him, it couldn’t be good.

Vinnie also noticed something unusual about this expression. The giant almost seemed to recognize him. But how was that possible? He hadn’t really seen this guy before in ChalkZone. He never ran into him. He couldn’t have possibly have seen him. When would he have....

He was stopped midthought when the giant began to address him.

“What are you doing back here?” The giant, Biclops, hissed at him. “Rudy Tabootie banished you!”

“Rudy had.... What...?” Vinnie tilted his head to the side. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Biclops furrowed his eyes in deeply. It was clear that the giant didn’t believe him, even though Vinnie was genuinely confused about the whole thing. But regardless, the man held his tongue, not really feeling brave enough to try to oppose the massive being before him lest he get smashed. He gulped as Biclops raised his hand up and flinched, thinking that he was about to be struck down.

But instead, Biclops just began to speak to him, making a firm gesture with his hand as to make his point stronger somehow. “You came in here a while back to try to make an amusement park and you got kicked out. Now you were here again with your human partner.”

Vinnie was caught between shock and disgust. Shock, in that he now knew for certain that, somehow, this giant knew about his plans before and knew that he had been thrown out of the portal by a rollercoaster ride. And disgust in that he didn’t like the giant’s wording with that second part. He and Terry were not partners in that aspect. Gross...

But he quickly shook that off as he brought himself back to attention. He widened his eyes as he moved back away from the giant as he noticed him getting slightly closer. The zoner began to appear more and more massive the closer that he got, and Vinnie couldn’t help but gulp nervously. He raised his hand up in some form of self-defense as he backed away. He felt like he was going to be engulfed by this giant at any moment.

Biclops soon towered over him completely. Vinnie couldn’t try to move back any further. He was so small and the giant so large... If he even tried to move to the side or run, the giant would catch up to him no problem. Hell, one of his massive hands would be enough to stop him. Vinnie watched as one of those hands raised up slowly, hanging up in the air as Biclops was preparing to rant. Vinnie’s mind immediately went to wondering just how much damage a single blow from that fist could cause him.

Lucky for him at least, for the time being, Biclops looked more interested in just yelling at him rather than taking any sort of action.

“You shouldn’t have come back here! You aren’t wanted here! You are not going to treat us like your slaves!”

Vinnie blinked at this. “You thought we were going to do that?”

“Don’t play dumb! I know exactly how you humans are!” Biclops pointed an accusing finger at Vinnie. “You let your selfishness and greed guide your actions! You’d do anything to make a quick buck! If we had permitted you to stay, you would have put us in deplorable conditions, rip up our privacy and our rights, and expose us to being mere tools to keep your customers happy just so that you could make money!”

Vinnie wasn’t sure what to make of this. He could feel his head spinning as the giant’s booming voice raced through his head. He put his hands to his skull and squeezed it tightly, shuddering a little. He struggled to cope with it for a few seconds before shaking his head harder to get it out. Then he looked up at Biclops as he contemplated some kind of a response.

What could he say to that? It didn’t matter what he himself felt on the subject. If he said anything to piss off the giant, then he was in trouble. He could now see why Rudy urged him and Terry to let him speak with him first to work out a deal. He could now see, at least partly, why Rudy suggested a small section instead of the entire area.

Because if ChalkZone was as varied as Rudy said it was, as he and Terry saw, then what were the chances of them never running into the less...friendly zoners? What would stop some disgruntled zoners from coming after them when they didn’t like what they were doing?

....well there was the magic chalk...

No, that would only be temporary. Rudy made a good point about there being thousands if not millions of zoners. He and Terry couldn’t possibly prepare for them all. Anything they drew to counter the zoners, there may exist at least one zoner that could bypass it all. So... yeah, probably best to avoid that direction, if only for just making sure he could make his money without setting off trips and wires, so to speak.

“Well I’m sorry that you feel that way, but...” Vinnie tried to say. He didn’t get that far. The giant suddenly struck at the ground, causing Vinnie to jump and move back. He shuddered as he looked up at the giant, trying to ignore Rapsheeba’s somewhat smug expression. “Hey, watch it! You could have hit me!”

Biclops didn’t look like he was all that sorry. Instead, he just glared at him more deeply, curling his lip upward and hissing through his clenched teeth. The giant’s expression was more than enough to make Vinnie’s blood run cold and he wanted so much to just crawl away and hide right now. But something prevented him from turning his gaze away from the chalk guardian.

Biclops hissed in a deep voice, “You’re not sorry, you little punk! You marched in here like you owned the place and now you are pretending to feel some regret? Is this all some kind of ploy to...” The giant formed a tight fist and growled. Vinnie was getting worried that he was going to strike at him again. Even when he didn’t, Vinnie still shuddered. “Just what have you done to Rudy?!”

Rapsheeba nodded her head in agreement. She seemed a bit bolder this time, probably because she had Biclops’s protection. The fear was still in her eyes, but it was partially clouded over by some newfound confidence. “I saw you and Terry take him in here. What did you plan to do with him?”

Vinnie couldn’t believe it. He didn’t know why he didn’t realize this before. But Rapsheeba had just...lied to Biclops, didn’t she? That cheeky little bastard...

“You know exactly what we were doing! You were there when Terry and I were discussing it with you and those other two brats!” Vinnie realized he might have made a mistake with using the term ‘brats’, but he digressed. He just moved on, allowing his voice to run from his mouth. “You know that we were trying to save Rudy when he found out that he was missing! You know that Terry and I were just taking Rudy to safety while that..that creature, whatever it was, was dealt with!”

Vinnie had to pause for a moment as he panted heavily. He struggled to catch his breath. He could feel his mind spinning in circles, his head becoming achy and swollen. He rapidly rubbed his temples as he tried to keep himself calm. He couldn’t let himself become too angry. That wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He was just going to ruin his chances if he didn’t try to...

But it was too late. The two zoners could already see how angry he was. And from their expressions, they were going to use this against him. He just knew it. Once he settled down, Vinnie turned to glare at them before taking a small step back. He could feel his heart starting to race inside of his chest. What was he going to do now...?

“Even if that were true...” Biclops said. He gave a long pause, as though to drive the human crazy. “...just why should we believe how sincere you are in wanting to help Rudy?” His eyes narrowed as he turned his head to the side, growling lowly. “...after what you had done to Rapsheeba?”

Vinnie immediately froze at this, feeling his blood turning into even more ice. He looked over at Rapsheeba and noticed her expression. She must have told the giant on the way here. Of course she would... Vinnie just turned his head away and growled deeply. There wasn’t much that he could say in response to that.

Biclops apparently sensed his lack of a reaction as, well, an ‘answer’ of sorts. He snarled deeply and he looked like he had to really restrain himself from rushing in at him. Vinnie could only just turn his head away. He didn’t really have a defense for himself with that. He knew that these zoners would see those actions as deplorable. Hell, even his own species probably would, regardless if they thought Rapsheeba was real or not.

The silence that followed was unbearable. Vinnie formed a small fist with his hand as he struggled to think of what he was going to say or do. He couldn’t really think of anything. What could he say in this situation? Anything he said at this point could be used as a reason for this zoner to smack him. So all he could do is just hold still and hope that the giant didn’t decide to knock his teeth out.

Biclops growled at him, his voice rumbling. Though he didn’t look at him, Vinnie could almost just feel the giant’s glare piercing right through him. He struggled not to stagger back from the sharp blow that this gave. And then the giant began to speak, and there was no way that the man could have prepared for how icy that the giant’s voice sounded like.

“Where is Rudy...?”

Vinnie licked his lips slowly as he stared up at the giant. Occasionally he would look over at Rapsheeba as well, but he mostly concentrated on Biclops. He struggled to think of what to say, but...ugh..what could he say to this? It wasn’t like they would...

There really was only one thing that he could do.

He would have to lead them down to where the others were. Where Terry and Rudy were laying down, waiting for him.

Well, at least once there, if Rudy were awake, he could tell Biclops that they meant no harm. He could convince the giant that things would be different this time around. He could convince the giant that some kind of deal could be made. Provided that he isn’t in too much pain to do so.

Raising up his hand, the short black-haired human motioned to the two zoners. “Come on... They’re down this way.” He turned around and walked down.

He could hear a small grunt and hiss from the zoners behind him. He didn’t bother looking. He tried not to think about them. He just swallowed hard and began to head down slowly, feeling his body shaking a little as he went. He couldn’t bring himself to relax. He couldn’t get himself to walk in a straight line. He just went from side to side, feeling a lump forming in his throat. He had never been so scared before...

He struggled to keep moving, struggled to keep his body moving forward and get to Terry and Rudy as soon as possible. The sooner that he got to them, the better. He hoped that, as soon as he got there, these two would leave him alone. Rudy can explain everything and then everything was going to be all right. He could just feel it.

But why did it feel like it was taking longer to get down there now? He wasn’t sure why suddenly his steps seemed to be moving so much slower. It was like he needed to strain himself further just to keep going. The feeling in his stomach was twisty and yanky and he struggled to keep his stomach contents inside. He put his hand to his mouth and held it there tightly.

He nearly sighed with great relief when he saw that they were now entering the back part of the mines that he was in before. He never thought he would be so happy to see this place again. He looked all around, making sure every detail matched. And thankfully, it did. He recognized this winding path down and he recognized that structure not too far away.

As soon as they went down to the bottom of the path, he immediately started to make his way over to where the curving wall was, that almost acted like a shield. He stopped for a moment to look behind him, making sure that Rapsheeba and Biclops were following him. “They’re right over here.” Vinnie said as he continued on moving over. When he got to the edge of the curve and made a turn, he motioned his hand over and said, “See? Here’s Rudy.”

He had expected Biclops and Rapsheeba to immediately try speaking with Rudy, if he were awake, or just trying to wake him up. But that never came. Vinnie, confused, stared at the two zoners, furrowing his eyes in confusion. “What are you waiting for? Why aren’t you...”

He was cut off when he saw the cold stare of Biclops. “Is this some kind of a joke?”

Vinnie blinked his eyes a few times rapidly. “Wh-What are you saying..? I took you right to Rudy. What more do you want...?”

Rapsheeba folded her arms. “I don’t see Rudy.”

“You don’t see...” Vinnie turned around and stared at the spot. He nearly gasped when he saw that, indeed, they weren’t here. Neither Rudy nor Terry were present. He trembled as he took a few steps back, his mouth dropping open. “B-But they were here... Honest they were!”

“Perhaps they were...”

Vinnie turned around, his teeth gritted and his wide eyes staring at the massive zoner as he loomed over him. Vinnie raised up his hands in self defense as Biclops reached his hand towards him.

“But looks like you got here before us.”

Vinnie grunted as he felt the giant zoner grabbing onto him. He immediately began to squirm about in the giant’s grasp, trying to free himself. “W-Wait, please...! I-I didn’t..!”

Biclops just gritted his teeth. “You’ve run out of...”

Suddenly there was a loud scream that echoed along the walls. Biclops, Rapsheeba, and Vinnie immediately froze where they were and looked around. Vinnie struggled a few times, but soon focused on just turning his head left and right, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. It sounded like Rudy, but....

What the hell was going on...?

sss

Penny widened her eyes when she saw those sharp claws coming down at her for what was probably the fourth time. Skrawl had gotten unusually relentless. She could only just barely manage to dodge the attack, her mouth open and panting. She tried to draw something, but Skrawl managed to stop her, backhanding her with one of his hands. Penny let out a scream as she stumbled backwards, nearly falling into the ground.

“Penny!” Snap screamed. He looked at her in horror before turning to glare at the large jellybean zoner. “You monster.... How dare you hurt my friend!” He rushed over at Skrawl as fast as he could. “I’m going to... ack!”

Skrawl had struck Snap as hard as he could. Penny watched in horror as she saw her friend collide into the ground and roll across painfully. She saw him eventually skid to a stop on the ground. Then she quickly turned her head to glare at Skrawl.

The jellybean zoner moved towards them slowly, smiling darkly and licking his lips. “You two shouldn’t have tried to fight me... Now look at where you are.” Skrawl began to chuckle, something practically twinkling in the corner of his eyes. “But I’m so glad that you could join me. Maybe I could use you for something against Rudy. Do you think that he would scream if he sees his friends in danger?”

Penny narrowed her eyes into slits. Why this lowdown disgusting zoner... But then, not like she was that surprised. Considering the circumstances, she should have expected this kind of response from him.

She and Snap, who had crawled up to his feet, both took defensive stances as they glared at Skrawl, pondering what they were going to do now. Penny could try to draw something...but she was going to need time for that. And Skrawl was not about to give that to her. She could use Snap as a distraction, but....

...well, it didn’t seem like there was much of another choice, now was there? Desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Snap...” Penny whispered as she turned to the small blue and white zoner. When Snap looked up at her, she paused for a moment, biting her lip. Then she nudged her head upward, indicating where Skrawl was. “I need you to distract him.”

Snap stared at her in shock, his eyes widening. “How do you...”

“You’ve done a great job before. Just do more of that.” Penny told him. She didn’t mean to sound so rushed, but there wasn’t a lot of time right now. “Just get going and keep his attention. I’ll see if I can’t trap him.”

Snap didn’t look entirely certain of this. Especially considering Skrawl’s increased aggression. But nonetheless he still followed Penny’s orders. The girl watched as Snap began to head towards Skrawl. She did have to admire his bravery, heading out despite being a bit nervous. But she also felt guilty about doing this. She hoped and prayed that things were going to work out.

It didn’t take long for Snap to get Skrawl’s attention. All it took was a bit of waving his arms around and shouting in order to get Skrawl to come after him. The jellybean zoner was clearly desperate, and it made Penny wonder if he got hit in the head at some point. She shook the thought out of her mind as she tried to use this time to concentrate on drawing something.

Her previous idea, with the net, didn’t work. It wasn’t strong enough to hold down the large zoner. She would need to think of something else and fast. What else could she draw that would for certain keep Skrawl from escaping? What could combat this adrenaline-rushed zoner who looked more determined than ever to get what he wanted? And how could she do it without accidentally hitting Snap in the process? She flinched as she realized that she didn’t think this through as well as she thought.

But it was too late now. She looked down at her magic chalk and lifted it up. She looked back at Snap and, sucking in a sharp breath, she tried to collect her thoughts. What could she draw that would...

She heard a loud scream and she whirled her head over quickly to see what was going on. She widened her eyes in horror when she saw that Skrawl had already grabbed her friend by his neck. He lifted up Snap with ease and he pinned him agaisnt the wall. Snap struggled and squirmed, but found it difficult to escape. Snap glared back at Skrawl, who had started to raise his hand up to strike.

Penny started to move quickly, rushing to draw something. She did not have time to think anymore. No time to stand back and figure out the best mode of action. She just started to form lines in the air and began to draw the first thing that came to her mind.

Once she was finished, she held a large tranquilizer gun in her hands.

Penny stared at the tranquilizer gun in her hand in shock, wondering just how she could have come up with it. She didn’t even know if it would even work. Was it the right dosage? What if she...?

“Aaah! Penny, help!”

Penny saw that Skrawl slashed Snap across the face and threw him into the ground. Knowing that the zoner was not going to stop at this, Penny quickly rushed to get the tranquilizer gun ready. No time to draw something else. She loaded it and she pointed it at Skrawl. The zoner was too busy looking at Snap to really notice Penny. The girl slowly steadied it, closed one of her eyes, and then fired.

There was a quick whisp sound and then a plunk. The dart had hit against Skrawl’s forehead. The zoner growled and staggered back. He reached up and plucked it out of his forehead. He glared at it before looking back at Penny. He squeezed the dart tightly and broke it in his hand. Penny gulped nervously.

“You dare try something like that with me...?” Skrawl growled lowly as he began to move towards Penny. “Were you that mindlessly brave or did you just not think?”

“Wait... Penny!” Snap struggled up to his feet. He rushed over at Skrawl in hopes of trying to stop him. But Skrawl just kicked him aside like he was a bag of trash. Snap slammed against the wall, hititng his head and becoming too dazed for the moment to do anything.

Penny cringed back as Skrawl towered over her. She tried to point the tranquilizer dart gun up at Skrawl once again. Maybe he needed a second dosage. But the zoner just struck it away before she had any sort of chance to do that. Penny yelped as she clutched her hand. She rubbed it as she seethed through her clenched teeth. She glared up at Skrawl.

“Don’t look at me like that. You’re the one who brought this on yourself. If only you had been smarter....” Skrawl shook his head slowly. “But you and Rudy... You’ve always been such a thorn in my side.” His eyes suddenly gave a glint. “I think it’s time that I remove that thorn, don’t you think?”

Penny took a step back, feeling her body shaking. She tried to draw something else, but she suddenly realized that she didn’t have the chalk with her. She patted her hands against her pockets swiftly, hoping to find it. But there was nothing. It must have dropped when Skrawl knocked the tranquilizer gun away from her just moments ago. Penny could feel her blood running cold at this realization, further accentuated by Skrawl raising his hand up.

“Why are you doing this?” Penny knew that it was a dumb question. She knew what Skrawl’s goal was. But maybe if she managed to distract him long enough, she might be able to come up with some sort of plan.

“This is my chance to get what I deserve. I’ll never have another chance quite like this. You must know that as well.” Skrawl hissed. He could see Penny glaring back at him, and he took that as a confirmation. “You see? Now is the time to strike. I am not going to let this chance rot away. Not after what I’ve been through.”

Penny didn’t know what Skrawl was talking about with that last sentence, but she didn’t care. She just formed tight fists and prepared to fight. Chalk or no chalk, she wasn’t going to let this jellybean get away with this. They had enough problems to worry about than just dealing with this deranged zoner. “You are not taking over ChalkZone!”

Skrawl just stood there, blinking a few times as though he had trouble hearing what Penny said, or was just confused. Then a long, twisted smile came across his face. “And you’re going to try to stop me? How...?”

Skrawl grabbed onto Penny’s throat and lifted her up. Penny twisted and writhed in his hand, but wasn’t able to free herself. She soon hung limply as she glared at Skrawl.

The jellybean sneered, “You’re chalkless and you’re too weak to fight me without it. In fact..” Skrawl reached over and traced a claw along Penny’s chin. “I could easily...”

Suddenly, Skrawl let out a scream as he released Penny and staggered back. Penny let out a small grunt as he fell into the ground. She laid there for several moments before looking up and seeing Snap, who had finally managed to get up, biting Skrawl in the leg. She watched with wide eyes as the two zoners struggled against each other, going in rapid circles across the ground.

“Let go of me, you blue rodent!” Skrawl shouted as he reached down and grabbed onto Snap’s cape and tugged on it. “I’m going to rip you to shreds if you don’t stop! Do you hear me?! This is not how you treat your future ruler!”

But try as he might, Skrawl’s tugging of Snap didn’t make the zoner let go. Sure, Snap gagged a little, but he still held on tightly, grinding his teeth against Skrawl’s thin limb. And all that tugging only made it hurt worse. Skrawl flinched and staggered when he found out that pulling Snap only made it more likely that he’d lose a piece of flesh in the process.

Penny watched this scene play out in shock. She struggled up to her feet and fought against her wobbly legs as she started to look around for her piece of magic chalk. But her eyes found it not only difficult to find the magic chalk laying around here, but also it was equally hard to look away from the fight playing out before her. She licked her lips slowly and swallowed hard. She needed to act quickly before...

It was too late. Snap didn’t last as long as she had hoped. Skrawl had stopped trying to yank him off and just proceeded to knock him against the nearest tree. A few blows and Snap was forced to let go. He dropped to the ground in a heap. Skrawl grabbed him by the neck and held him up. He turned to Penny. The girl tried to jump back quickly, only to gag when Skrawl grabbed her throat as well.

Penny and Snap, now suspended in the air, struggled and wriggled and thrashed in the air. They kicked out their legs in desperation. Skrawl had clearly anticipated this move and just held them out away from himself. He smiled darkly as he watched them try in vain to hit him. He remained quiet for a moment before he decided to gloat a little.

“This situation is only going in my favor. Even if I don’t get all that I deserve to day, this will just pave the way for a wonderful future. My brilliant plan is two-fold, and not even you two could stop its two ends.” He turned his head to the side as he stared at them with one eye. “Or do you two think that you’re so lucky? Do you think that you stand a chance?”

Penny and Snap didn’t answer. They didn’t know what they could say. They just continued to glare at him while they struggled. They tried their best to hide their fear, not wanting this zoner to see that they were getting a little terrified.

But Skrawl did see.

And it made him smile.

“So you’re finally understanding your place here now, aren’t you? You’re understanding that you have no chance to stop me this time.” Skrawl tightened his grip on them a little. He laughed as they tried to breathe harder. “No matter what you do, one of two things will happen. I’ll either be rid of Rudy, or the Chalk Mine.”

Penny felt her mind freeze at this statement.

“Either way, I’ll have one less threat to worry about. And you know what...?” Skrawl pulled Penny in closer, his breath hitting against her face. Snap called out to her, trying to get Skrawl to leave her alone. “I think I know which I’m going to choose...”

Penny sensed the intent in Skrawl’s voice and she started to struggle harder. No, she had to get away somehow. She had to get herself free, before this monster could...

Just then, Skrawl just froze. He didn’t move, didn’t say anything, just did nothing. His wide eyes were staring upwards at an angle and his mouth was partially open. He started to sway slightly, but overall he was just still and silent. Penny and Snap had no idea what was going on. Skrawl freezing up like this was almost as scary as his actions earlier.

Slowly, Skrawl’s hands loosened up. Penny and Snap hit each other and grunted as they fell into the ground painfully. They groaned and looked up as Skrawl still stood there, almost like he had been turning into a statue. The two friends watched him carefully and wondered just what he was going to do.

And then finally, something happened.

Skrawl’s eyes began to flutter slightly and then there seemed to be some switch turned off, for his eyes suddenly looked so...dull. The jellybean moved forward a little, his feet stumbling and wobbling, and then eventually, he could not longer stay up. He fell to the ground in a loud heap right before the two friends. Penny and Snap looked at each other in confusion before looking back down at Skrawl, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Snap shrugged his hands upward and said, “Did I miss something?”

Penny looked down at Skrawl, just as confused about the situation as Snap. She then remembered something and had an idea of what could have happened. “The tranquilizer dart must have finally kicked in....” It was the only explanation that she could think of that made sense anyway. Before Snap could question her, she grabbed onto his arm and yanked it. “Come on, we need to find the others!”

Snap was about to follow her before he stopped and looked down at Skrawl. “What about him?”

Penny eyed Skrawl and realized that they couldn’t just leave him. They would need to do something to make sure that he didn’t cause further trouble. But she still didn’t know where the magic chalk was and she had no idea how much longer Skrawl would remain out cold like this. What were she and Snap going to do about this?

sss

“Rudy! Stop this! Come back!” Terry shouted as she tried to keep up with the small child. She could feel her heart pounding heavily in her chest as she tried to keep up. “You’re going to make your condition worse if you don’t stop!”

“Get away from me! Don’t touch me! Don’t hurt me again!” Rudy shouted back. Pure horror was laced across his voice.

Terry didn’t know how Rudy had fallen back like this. It was unprecedented that he would suddenly revert into this state after so long of building up his trust. She couldn’t fathom what had changed. No matter how hard that she tried, it just didn’t make sense.

But regardless of the reason, Rudy was still running away from her, still working himself up. Her mind flashed back to what happened before and, determined to keep it from happening, she pumped her legs to move faster. Even if Rudy didn’t understand what she was trying to do, she had to stop him. She couldn’t afford to lose him, especially not deep into this plan and especially not... She tried to shake off the thought.

The two of them continued racing down the hallway. Wherever they were..... Terry had no clue. She and Rudy had barely bothered looking around after they fall down here before they began to run. Or rather, Rudy’s the one who scrambled up to his feet and immediately began to dash away from her. And Terry hadn’t even done anything at that point. It was just out of the blue.

She had no idea how much longer Rudy could keep this up. He was already damaged enough as it was. She could see him grabbing onto his chest and she knew that if he didn’t stop, he might end up hurting himself more. She tried to move faster, but it was so difficult to gain speed in this place. All the rocks and grooves and uneven ground made this especially difficult.

Despite the difficulty, despite feeling her leg slightly twist a few times, Terry still kept on moving, refusing to stop, refusing to let this child get away from her. She couldn’t allow him to get that far. She had to stop him before he...

Rudy suddenly turned to the side, nearly causing Terry to collide with the wall. She managed to skid to a stop just barely before turning around and running after Rudy once more. In the process, she could feel her leg slipping on the ground, the pebbles nearly destabilizing her. She shrugged it off and gritted her teeth before racing off after Rudy once more. Their foot falls echoed heavily in the dripping chamber.

Eventually, Terry managed to get close enough to Rudy to try to grab him. She reached out towards him, but she could only just barely touch him. This seemed to cause the boy to panic and he struggled to go faster. Terry widened her eyes at this, and then hissed lowly. Oh no he doesn’t...

Tightening up her leg muscles, Terry launched herself at Rudy, wrapping her arms around him firmly and began to wrestle him into the ground.

“Aaaah! No! Stop! Let me go!” Rudy shouted, clearly panicked. There didn’t seem to be much awareness in his eyes. Just raw fear. “I don’t want to get hurt! Stop!”

Terry struggled to hold onto the child, but it was getting incredibly difficult. He kept squirming around way too much. She tried to use her weight to hold him down, but that didn’t seem to be working too well. She tried to adjust herself and go for another angle, but she didn’t get far before Rudy struck back.

Terry let out a scream as she staggered back, feeling the echoes of Rudy’s foot against her face. She covered the injured spot with her hands and carefully rubbed it, trying to nurse it gently. She then shot a glare at where Rudy was, who was making his attempt to flee. The anger that she felt towards the boy began to return and she hissed under her breath.

“You little brat...”

Rudy was unable to get far as a sudden wave of pain struck his chest. He fell into the ground and just laid there. He looked over at Terry as he curled up into a ball, waiting for her next move. Terry realized that she could do whatever she wanted. She had the time and isolation... No one would have to know about this.

As this thought filled up her mind, she could feel herself starting to smile slowly, gradually. She could feel something rising up inside of her, something that she hadn’t felt in such a long time.

Glee.

She had felt this the last few times she encountered this child. When she had tried to control him more forcefully, when she had forced him to become afraid of her. That same happiness that she had back then, she was getting now. She started to feel....powerful again. The confusion seemed to be lifting up, allowing her to see things more clearly now. She couldn’t help but chuckle a little, feeling perhaps a little too happy at finally being free again.

Rudy continued to look at her in fear, which in turn only started to please Terry the longer that she stared back. She started to move in slowly as the anger began to return. The anger of what she had forced herself to do with this child. The anger of what this child had caused her. She remembered her jailtime, how she had lost everything because of this little brat.

And now that they were alone... Now that she had finally shaken off this disgusting feeling of attachment towards him, now was her chance to finally do something about this. Now was her chance to finally get Rudy to pay for what he had done to her. She gritted her teeth as she moved in closer, her shadow casting over the small child.

Rudy tried to get up and run away. He scrambled to his feet, wobbling back and forth. He turned and attempted to run, only to trip against the ground once more. Even if that didn’t happen, it was clear that his heart was still hurting him. He clutched at it and coughed and spluttered, his body trembling hard. He looked back up at Terry, his eyes filling with pain and fear and horror as she crept towards him.

Oh there was so much that she could do with him right now... There was so much that she could get away with.... And no one was going to know. No one was going to find out about this. No one was going to learn what she had done. Absolutely no one...

But what to do? She was so excited that she couldn’t figure out just one thing that could be done. She could maybe just drag him back to the Real World and get back to business. Or perhaps just rid herself of him now? Kill him so that he can’t be a threat anymore? Yes, why not? It’s not like she and Vinnie need him anymore. They had enough knowledge to take ChalkZone by force.

With that in mind, Terry quickly closed the gap between her and Rudy. She didn’t give Rudy a chance to get away before she reached out and grabbed onto his throat tightly. Rudy gagged and struggled as Terry pushed him against the ground, pinning him there. Rudy tried to desperately scratch at her arms, trying to wriggle himself free, twisting his body this way and that, but it just wasn’t working. Terry only held onto him more strongly and firmly.

Terry stared down at his squirming form, her smile growing twisted, her frown deepening. She was trapped between happiness and rage, trapped between deciding to laugh at Rudy or yelling at him. She didn’t know exactly what she was going to do just yet, but whatever it was, she could still feel herself beginning to take action anyway. She could feel her hand forming into a tight fist and it raised above Rudy.

At this point, the child finally decided to speak. “N-No... Wait, p-p-please...” He turned his head to the side, staring up at Terry with gritted teeth. “D-Don’t hurt me...”

Terry’s eyes glinted at this. “It’s far too late for that, you little brat.” Terry could feel herself shaking a little with burning anger, recalling all that she lost thanks to this kid. “All my hard work went down the drain because of you. Do you have any idea how long it took me to gather that information? Do you know how much work you’ve destroyed?!”

Rudy didn’t attempt to answer. He just continued to whimper and struggle against her grasp, his legs kicking out in desperation. Terry was able to dodge his pitiful attempts to get her off of him, his legs just barely grazing her own.

Terry took a second to just relish in this moment. Alone with her frightened nemesis, helpless, unable to fight back... All it would take is just one hard enough kick to his chest to upset that darn pacemaker, the very thing that was keeping Rudy locked in pain right now... It would be over in a few seconds, and she would be treated to the delight of his death spasms. She knew that once they were over, Rudy was gone and no longer could be a threat to her.

Her vengeance would have finally come full circle.

“I-I’m sorry... I’m so s-s-sorry... Please don’t do this...” Rudy stared up at her with tear-stained eyes. His lower lip quivered as he continued to shake and tremble. “L-Let me go... Please...”

Terry narrowed her eyes into slits. “It’s far too late now, you little brat...” She steadied her fist, steadying it, aiming it carefully. She watched as Rudy shut his eyes and turned away, as though preparing for the blow. “Far too late.”

She didn’t want to keep up this chatter. She didn’t want to keep sitting here, imagining what she could do. She just wanted to take action. She wanted to give this little brat exactly what he deserved. So after she wind up her arm muscles and she positioned her fist where she wanted it, she prepared for the first blow. She ignored Rudy’s pathetic begging for her to stop as she got ready. And then, without much hesitation, she launched her fist forward.

It would only take a second to strike. She would soon hear the child scream, her fist aching. She would soon feel the satisfaction of making him pay for his past actions, make him pay for throwing her in jail, make him pay for every blasted thing he’s done to humiliate her. And then...

Suddenly, there was some flashes of white in front of her, blinding her for a split second. Then as just a mere second ticked by, if even that, she was bombared with several images before her, most of them pertaining her and Rudy. She could see everything that happened in that short span of time, all condensed in an easy to view package.

How she and Vinnie took him in...

How they started to try to get him to trust them...

The weird feelings that they got as a result...

For a split second, she could see Rudy staring up at her pleadingly, looking more helpless. Her mind’s eye exaggerated the image, and she didn’t just see Rudy; she saw an even smaller child, even more defenseless, staring at her as though she was his mother who was getting ready to punish him. The image caused her gut to twist in horror and she reacted instantly.

“No!”

At the very last possible moment, Terry alternated her course of attack. Her fist struck against the rock instead, nearly cracking it from the shere force. She hissed in pain and felt it echoing along through her arm bones, but she still froze there, unable to move. She lowered her head, feeling her body shaking as Rudy stared up at her in confusion.

She could feel her stomach burning up inside, frustration raging through her body. Her wide eyes stared at the ground for several moments, her mouth stretched open as she struggled to keep breathing. Her dizzied mind struggled to figure out just what had happened, why she stopped at the last second. She couldn’t understand it at first. Her head ached with so much confusion. She put her damaged hand to her head and pressed her fingernails against her own skin, nearly drawing blood.

This just didn’t make any sense. She had Rudy right where she wanted him. She could have easily gotten away with this. It would have been over quickly. Why did she miss? Why did she redirect her attack? Why did...

But was it that hard to understand? Was it really a mystery? She could feel some weird sensation crawling through her, bringing forth a thought that at first she didn’t understand, and yet it made so much sense. She tried to push it aside, but the more she did this, the more that it just kept coming right back at her, stronger than ever.

Slowly, realization dawned on her, simultaneously chilling and melting her blood at once.

She....couldn’t do it.

Even when she had the chance, even when she didn’t have anything to lose, even when Rudy had no help whatsoever, she still couldn’t bring herself to do this. She couldn’t bring herself to hurt him anymore.

The very thing that she and Vinnie were afraid would happen, the thing that they tried so hard to avoid, yet slowly found themselves becoming victims of it, engulfed by it, had happened. Stockholm Syndrome could easily become a two-fold thing. As they were getting Rudy to trust them, they in turn had started to trust Rudy. And things only grew from there.

Terry stared down at the shivering child before her. The feelings of anger and rage and excitement had died down so fast, it was like someone had pulled the drain plug from her mind. She watched as Rudy continued to stare up at her in fear, and instead of feeling happy about it, she started to feel....guilty. She looked over at her hand and she flinched before staring back at Rudy.

What had she almost done...?

Terry could feel a cold sensation rushing up and down her body, sucking in a quick, sharp breath. She could feel something burning behind her eyes. Her hand loosened up, releasing his neck. The sight of the red mark she left there, a small bruise from the tight squeeze as well as scratch marks making her cringe even harder. She felt something moving down her cheeks and she suddenly realized that burning sensation in her eyes were tears. Was she really crying? Oh for... But the more she wiped them, the more tears came.

She reached out towards Rudy, her hand trembling. She thought she felt something burst inside of her when the boy cringed away from her, like how he had done before. She stopped and pulled back, her mouth open, releasing shaky breathing.

“R-Rudy, I-I-I....” Terry was surprised at how much her voice was shaking at that. She licked her lips slowly and swallowed hard. “I’m... I’m sorry... I didn’t...” She paused for a moment as she tried to force herself to continue. “I didn’t mean to...”

Rudy didn’t answer. He just continued to stare up at her in fear, a sight that Terry realized she no longer could genuinely enjoy. Biting her lip, unable to just keep hanging back, Terry moved in closer, leaning her body forward. Rudy’s louder whimpers and increased struggles only stung her mind further. She soon scooped the trembling child up into her arms and pulled him close.

She steadied Rudy carefully, one of her arms looping around his back to support him while the other was positioned so that she could hold onto his head. She leaned in and pressed the side of her head against his, feeling his hair against her skin. She could feel Rudy shaking even harder in har arms, prompting her to hold him even closer.

The emotion that she had pretended to feel before had become....genuine. And she could no longer deny it.

Carefully rocking the frightened child in her arms, she whispered, “I’m so sorry, Rudy.. I’m so sorry....”

sss

What the hell was going on? Why was there loud screaming? What was all of that sound? And why did it just...stop? He couldn’t think of what could be happening, other than it wasn’t anything good. And the fact that it sounded like Rudy...

Biclops struggled not to allow his mind to become too overcrowded with fear and horror. He tried to keep his mind from spinning around too much and just focused on keeping on running, hoping to find where Rudy was taken before it was too late. He huffed and he puffed, feeling his chest lighting on fire in the process.

He wasn’t alone. Both Vinnie and Rapsheeba were running along with him. They had all forgotten about their tensions with each other, all forgotten about what they were doing prior. Right now, all that they could focus on was just getting to where these sounds were coming from. They needed to know just what the fuck was happening. They needed to know what was....

Biclops kept moving down the hallway as fast as he could, feeling his feet pounding against the ground. He could tell that the caverns were shaking at varying points, but he couldn’t stop. Not now. He had to keep going, had to keep running. He didn’t know what could be happening with Rudy. But if he were in danger, if something was.... He had to be there to help him. After all that time of them trying to get Rudy back, he was not about to let him be taken away yet again.

He and Rapsheeba and Vinnie just continued to run as swiftly as possible. The two smaller beings were lagging somewhat behind him, but Biclops didn’t attempt to slow down. His wide, vertical eyes kept looking around for any sign of Rudy, any sign of him being there, anything that could clue him in on what happened.

But so far, he could see nothing. He couldn’t find anything useful. He couldn’t find anything that told him much. No matter how fast that he had went, no matter how hard that he looked, there just seemed to be nothing. He stared to wonder if....

Suddenly, he caught something in the corner of his eye. His massive form suddenly skidded to a complete stop. He could feel Vinnie and Rapsheeba hitting against his massive leg as he turned sharply and dropped onto his knees in front of something. He stared at it intently, moving in as closely as he could. Then he gasped loudly.

It was some kind of a hole...

And it looked pretty recent, too.

“Y-You think they could have fallen down there...?” Rapsheeba whimpered softly as she stared at the hole, raising up her lip. “That looks like quite the drop.”

Vinnie nodded his head slowly, swallowing hard. “How far do you think it goes down..?”

Biclops stared at the hole for a moment before glaring at Vinnie. “Why don’t you find out?”

Vinnie looked up at Biclops. “What?”

Biclops narrowed his eyes into slits. The sight of it was enough to make Vinnie gulp and take a few steps back, raising his hands up as though to try to defend himself. Biclops was pleased with this. It meant that he would be easier to control. The last thing he wanted from this human was any sort of surprise. Raising his hand up, he motioned towards the hole and said, “You heard me, pipsqueak. Get in there.”

“But why me?” Asked Vinnie, motioning his hands to himself. “Why not her?” He pointed at Rapsheeba. “She’s your ally, isn’t she? Wouldn’t you trust her more to...”

“You might have a point there. But see, I’m not putting her in any danger. How do I know that your human partner isn’t going to try to harm her?” Biclops glared intently at the small human, his emotions becoming quite clearly written upon his face. Vinnie cold only watch with widened eyes, his body shaking. “And besides, I know this place better than you and I can send you down with a little message.”

Vinnie gulped and asked in a quiet voice, “L-L-Like what...?”

Biclops felt himself start to smile a bit twistedly. A similar smile that he had given Rudy years ago. It now served a new purpose, and judging from Vinnie’s reaction, it was working splendidly. “I want you to inform that vile, nasty woman...” He took a step forward, shaking the ground. He leaned in closer and spoke in a hushed whisper. “..If I don’t see you two back here in fifteen minutes, I am going to hunt down your asses and I will crush you in my bare hands...”

Vinnie’s eyes widened in horror. He moved back, putting himself up against the wall. He looked like he was struggling not to throw up. He fought against his nausea and said, “Y-You can’t be serious... I-I...”

“Oh I am very serious.” Biclops growled as he narrowed his vertical eyes further. He grabbed onto a nearby rock and held it up. He let Vinnie get a nice, long, look at it before he just squeezed tightly. The human nearly screamed in horror as Biclops crumbled it to pieces easily. “That could be you if you don’t get back here quickly.” Biclops tilted his head to the side. “Do I make myself clear?”

Vinnie was shaking like a leaf at this point. He was still struggling not to vomit, putting his hand to his mouth and resisting the urge to release his stomach contents. He wobbled to and fro and struggled not to fall down onto his knees. He held himself against the wall with one hand, wheezing a little as his spinning mind tried to cope with this bit of unpleasant information.

There was a small part of Biclops that didn’t exactly like doing this. He didn’t enjoy being this scary nor did he actually want to hurt the human that badly. He just wanted to make sure that he knew of the consequences of whatever he decided to do. Plus, he did deserve some karma for what he had done to Rapsheeba. For that reason, he saw no motivation to apologize.

Eventually, Vinnie did break the silence. He cleared his throat and he opened his mouth to speak, his lips trembling the entire time. “O-O-Okay...” He gave another swallow, this one seeming to echo across the room. “I-I-I’ll make sure that she knows...”

“Good...” Biclops spoke as he narrowed his eyes into slits. He remained that way for several long moments, making sure that Vinnie understood exactly what kind of trouble he was going to be in if he failed to keep true to his word. “Now get going.” His voice had grown rather deep.

That was all that Vinnie needed to hear. Moving as swiftly as he could, desperate to get away from the seemingly hostile giant, Vinnie turned and scrambled towards the hole. Biclops didn’t really know how Vinnie was going to get down, but he didn’t care at that point. He just stood there and watched as the human struggled to figure out a safe way down.

As he watched Vinnie go about his task, Biclops’s expression softened up. Not because he felt sorry for Vinnie, but because he was starting to get worried about Rudy. He was alone with Terry somewhere down there and he had little reason to believe that this woman wouldn’t be some kind of threat. He glanced down at Rapsheeba, recalling what she had informed him of. He shuddered just thinking about it, and that made him grow even more worried.

He hoped and prayed that Rudy was going to be all right.

sss

Mrs. Sanchez stood on the small hill of snow, one of the few bigger piles that remained in this particular section of the road. She looked down and stared intently at the log cabin before her and her friends. She couldn’t quite remember what had drawn them in this direction, but here they were.

The log cabin certainly seemed to fit the description of what they were looking for quite well. The curtains were covered up, just as they thought they would be. While this could be an indicator of something else, it was still enough to go on, still enough for them to suspect that something was wrong here.

But that hadn’t been the only thing. Moving in closer and examining further allowed them to see that there appeared to be faded tracks but no sign of a car being here. Why would someone not have a car here in these woods? Unless, of course, they were trying to reduce their footprint, so to speak. Make it harder for anyone to figure out what someone was there.

Again this could still be chalked up to something else. But there was still one other thing that was the real clincher.

The small sign that indicated that someone had rented the place was mysteriously empty.

It wasn’t really a ton of information, really. No names due to privacy. But there was usually a ‘vacant’ or ‘in use’ sign. A strange way of doing things, but it was simple and to the point. It was good enough to work and the customers didn’t mind it. It was in place apparently for years after this place was built. And it was the one piece of information that made this place a prime target.

It seemed that, whoever had been here before, had removed the sign. Perhaps they wanted to make it look like some freak storm knocked it down. That lie could stretch for sometime and it’s not like this place really replaces those signs much. Some were pretty dirty. It was one of the few things that wasn’t more closely monitored.

By removing it, whoever had this cabinet made it harder for anyone to tell if someone was there. If it was ‘in use’, people might be staring intently and wondering who was in there, maybe get a little curious and wait for someone to come out. And that could have complicated things, especially if it’s discovered that they weren’t registered. On the other hand, ‘vacant’ wouldn’t have helped either. This would have caused someone to try to rent this place and that would have led to the two intruders trying their best to balance out hiding and taking care of their children.

So why not throw out that sign? It seemed like a brilliant move.

And now, it was time for her and the others to make their move. She narrowed her eyes to slits as she looked at the others. Mr. Tabootie and Mrs. Tabootie were standing not far from her. They were glaring at the log cabin as well, their teeth bared and eyes narrowed into slits. Once they looked at her, she nodded her head affirmatively and they began to make their slow movement towards the cabin.

They took their time moving forward. They needed to be careful, not wanting to mess any of this up. They all feared that if they moved too fast or made too much noise, they were only going to damage their mission. They also had to take into account that getting their children out of there was the top priority; wasting time trying to beat up Vinnie and Terry could get them into a worse situation. No doubt those two evil humans would try to sue them.

So far, they didn’t really run into any opposition. There was nothing around here indicating that someone was coming out or towards them. There was no noise coming from the cabin. That was....neither a good thing nor a bad thing, but they tried not to let their fears activate their imaginations. They shook their heads and continued to move forward slowly and deliberately. The only sound that could be heard was their feet crunching up the snow, and even that was muffled.

Soon they reached the door. They stopped right there and remained quiet. They stared at it long and hard, trying to think of what they were going to do. What was the next task? Should they open it and rush in? Or should they try to find some place else to crawl through?

Mr. Tabootie took a step forward. He reached out with his hand, trying to grab the knob, before he let out a groan and pulled it back. He took a small step back and looked back at the others. “How....should we go about this...?”

“I...” Mrs. Tabootie sounded unusually quiet. This was a surprise coming from the one who was most adament about doing this. “I don’t know...”

Mrs. Sanchez could feel the eyes turning to her now. She froze and struggled to think of just how they were going to do this. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, staring at the door. She then tried to visualize what the rest of the log cabin looked like, trying to figure out if there was another possible point of entry.

She soon realized that it was just way too dangerous to try doing something crazy like the roof. The chimney might be able to help them get in, but there was a risk of getting caught in it and that was the last thing that they wanted to do. Even she, thin as a rail, would be in danger there. And sneaking in the back way would be just as risky as going in the front. That didn’t leave them with very many choices, but they also had very little time on their hands.

Narrowing her eyes, she went with the one plan that she felt was the only one that they could use, even if it’s not really all that much better and probably the most likely one to get them caught.

“We should just go in.” She said in a firm voice.

Mr. Tabootie let out a small gasp at this. “B-But, what if...”

“What if what?” Mrs. Sanchez cut off the man, giving him a small glare. “We’re already disobeying the law by being here. And the people in there... If they are who we think they are...” She looked at the door intently out of the corner of her eye. “They’re already wanted criminals. Even if we get arrested, so will they.”

“But we can’t just..” Mr. Tabootie tried to say. Mrs. Tabootie was too stunned to think of anything. Mr. Tabootie raised his hands up, making a few gestures with them, walking back and forth as he tried to come up with a retort. “I mean.... What if we make it worse?”

“Either way, we could make it worse. Stand here and do nothing. Leave and hope the authorites would get here.” Mrs. Sanchez made a few gestures as she spoke, trying so hard not to get herself to sound too emotional. Then she glared at Mr. Tabootie. “....or we could stay here and try to help our children. No matter what we pick, there is a risk involved. We don’t have much of a choice, now do we?”

Mr. Tabootie fell silent, unable to think of anything to say to that. He just stared at her, mouth agape, unable to keep breathing. His looked like he was struggling to say something, but nothing would come to his mind, so he just fell utterly silent.

Mrs. Tabootie, however, was a bit more vocal. “I know that I wanted to get this done and over with as soon as possible... I know I had been pushing really hard, wanting to see my son again, and you your daugther...” Mrs. Tabootie moved towards Mrs. Sanchez, fumbling with her hands, her head lowered. She looked as though she was regretting some of her earlier actions. It was clearly written upon her face. “But I was desperate. I..I still think that we should...” She lifted her head up and stared directly at Mrs. Sanchez almost pleadingly. “I don’t want to make another mistake...”

Mrs. Sanchez’s expression softened up and she let out a sigh. She looked at her two friends and realized that she might have scared them a little too much. That hadn’t been her goal. She had only wanted to make them see that they had little choice and they needed to....

...there wasn’t much time. She didn’t doubt that the man they had run into would stay silent for long. He was probably on his way now to inform the main people in charge of the breach, regardless of what he was told. If they wanted even the slimmest chance of getting their children back, now was the time to strike.

Mrs. Sanchez turned her head back to the door before her. She could feel the Tabooties’ eyes upon her as she walked over slowly. She soon stopped in front of the door and, exhaling deeply, she reached out and she grabbed onto the door knob and turned it. She didn’t hesitate to open it up. She and the others watched intently as the immediate area of the log cabin was laid bare before them. They stiffened up and prepared themselves for what they were about to see.

They stiffened up at what they saw. Or rather, what they didn’t see. They could see the usual contents of a log cabin all around them, but so far, they didn’t see any signs of it being used. But that was only with an initial eye sweep. They slowly moved in deeper, their eyes scanning the area, looking for anything that might help them.

It didn’t take long to find something.

“I see some bowl over there.” Mrs. Tabootie whispered as she walked over into the living room. She reached down and picked it up. “It looks like it was used sometime today.” She examined it carefully before exchanging a worried glance at Mrs. Sanchez.

Then Mr. Tabootie called out to them. “And there’s more food in here! A lot of it! I would say there’s enough food here to last for months. Whoever was in here planned on staying a long term.”

Mrs. Sanchez frowned at this. “But people here usually only rent a cabin for a month if I remember right. At most and only if they could afford it...” She looked over at the kitchen. Though she could not see much from where she stood, she could still see some remnants of food that indicated long term use. “But to stockpile for months...I...”

“Oh my gawd!”

Mrs. Sanchez and Mr. Tabootie jumped when Mrs. Tabootie shouted like that. Pure horror was on her voice’s tip and and her hands were brought to her face, covering her mouth. Her wide eyes were staring at something on the ground as she backed up a little as though this thing was poison.

“Millie!” Mr. Tabootie shouted as he rushed to his wife’s side. “What happened?! What’s wrong...?”

Mrs. Tabootie didn’t bother answering. She just slowly pointed a finger towards whatever she was staring at. Mr. Tabootie and Mrs. Sanchez followed suit, tryign to see what it was that she was looking at.

And that’s when they saw it.

Plain as day.

It was a small strip of some kind of white cloth. It looked like it fell in a way that made it hard to see, hence why it was still there. But it was what was on the strip that caused their muscles to siffen up.

There was blood on the cloth.

sss

What was going on here? What was he going to do? What should he do? He could only just stare out ahead, his body frozen and shaking unable to think of any kind of response. His mouth was open as he struggled to breathe, everything spinning around in circles, his teeth becoming gritted.

He hadn’t expected something like this to happen. He didn’t even know what he had expected. He was too terrified, too shaken up to do much of anything. He was breathing heavily, nearly hyperventilating. He could feel himself feel a little sick as his mind spun in rapid circles. He could feel himself filling up with several questions that just wouldn’t go away.

And the one that kept coming after him, kept swirling around in his head and showing no signs of letting up, was....

....should he believe Terry’s words...?

Rudy hadn’t attempted to wriggle his way out of Terry’s arms. He hadn’t tried to escape nor did he say anything to her. It wasn’t because he was fully convinced by what she was doing or her words. It was more that he was just too stunned to think of anything, his mind still locked into a frozen state of fear. Even his breathing hadn’t quite slowed down.

He wanted to struggle so badly. He wanted to try to get away, and yet there was something almost...comforting about this. Even in the midst of his fear, he couldn’t bring himself to hate being held like this.

But that did little to hide the fact that he was still pretty confused and shaken by what had taken place. He couldn’t forget how he had woken up to pain, and then had flashbacks to all the terrible things this woman had done to him, and how he had been stuck with her and Vinnie for months after they ‘rescued’ him from the snow. He didn’t really know if they had lied about that or not, but he didn’t have much reason to doubt it.

This in turn brough over some conflicting feelings. Even now, he still felt....something for them. He couldn’t bring himself to be that angry, and yet he was still angry. It was conflicting and confusing and he wasn’t really sure what to think of it. He had no idea what his stance was anymore and he gritted his teeth as a result. Should he feel any sympathy at all? Should he just toss away the memories he made with them? Or was the reality more complicated?

Right now, his dizzied mind couldn’t really concentrate on what to say or do. Emotion still wracked through his body, which still strembled as he tried to struggle with the fear of what happened. He couldn’t get Terry’s twisted face out of his head and her words still echoed in his mind. He couldn’t shut his eyes without seeing that fist readying to strike him. He could feel a few tears forming in his eyes, trickling down his face.

He was so lost. So confused and uncertain of what to do and what to think. In her actions, Terry just made it harder for Rudy to know how to feel about her, as well as Vinnie. He couldn’t tell if those two had been serious in their kindness before or if it was all just a ruse, or if it was even more complicated than that.

And if it was more complicated..... Where do they go from here?

Rudy eventually forced himself to shut his eyes despite his fears of doing so. He jolted and tried to fight against the horrible images coming to his head as he laid himself closer to Terry, listening to her soft cries as he joined in with his own. He didn’t really know if he should be doing this or not, and it had little say on what he actually felt on the situation. But for the time being, he could only just...sit here and allow it to happen.

He didn’t know how long this went on for. He didn’t know how much longer they hugged like this until they finally parted. But when they did, Rudy could suddenly feel a surge of uncomfortableness zipping through his body. He nearly jumped when he saw Terry looking at him in the eyes, even if it wasn’t a threatening expression. He immediately leaned away from her a little, raising up her arm as though in self defense.

“Rudy...?” Terry spoke softly. It was difficult to tell what her expression meant, but it seemed borderline confusion.

Rudy just stared up at her, feeling his breathing still racing, his chest inflating and deflating rapidly. He could feel sweat moving down his face and he shook his head, trying to knock it away from himself. He tried to keep himself from moving back any further and he fought against the shaking that still plagued his body. He opened his mouth, letting it hang open, as he continued to truggle breathing.

Despite his efforts, however, Rudy could still feel his eyes widen when Terry leaned in a little closer. While there was a good chance that she wasn’t going to hurt him, his mind still flashed him memories of when she did, and seeing that sadistic expression on her face, even if it was just in his mind, was enough to make him lean away from her.

Terry did seem to quickly get the picture and she moved back. She turned her head to the side, staring down at the ground. Silence fell upon them as the two of them seemed to try to think of their current situation and what they could do about it. Then Terry turned and stared back at Rudy. After a long, awkward silence, she forced a small, weak smile.

“I...guess we’re in a bit of a...sticky situation, right?” She gave a weak laugh, which didn’t make her sound any more convincing. Rudy felt himself start to frown a little at her, which in of itself was nothing more than a mask for his still lingering fears. Terry seemed to detect this and her smile faltered slightly before she barely managed to retain it. “Well....what do you say we do now...?”

Rudy blinked at her, tilting his head to the side. She was honestly asking him on what they should do? Why? Did she think that he had some useful insight? The only thing that he had was conflicting emotion. He doubted that he could do anything to lighten up the mood or shift things in a better direction.

But Rudy did feel a strange tingling sensation in the back of his head and in his finger tips. He could feel his heart jerking and tightening and burning. Then slowly but surely, he started to realize that there was something on his mind. There was something that he did want to say to her. A rather odd thing to talk about, but he still needed to get it off of his chest. He needed to know.

He stared intently at Terry. He licked his lips slowly as he worked up what he was going to say. It felt like he was struggling against a thousand things trying to hold him still. He managed to fight against all of that as he asked a simple yet poignant question.

“Did you and Vinnie...really rescue me? Or a lie?” Rudy paused for a moment, then continued. “Was it all a lie?”

The fact that Terry didn’t respond didn’t shock Rudy, and yet it didn’t really sit well with him either. He watched her as she seemed to stammer and stutter, struggling to find the words to say. The fact that she couldn’t bring herself to say anything spelled everything out for Rudy. He lowered his head and he turned away.

“I see...” Rudy grumbled. “So Penny and Snap were right. You were using me...” This realization didn’t really cause him anymore mental distress than he was already in, for some reason. He just felt like he was going numb slowly and he couldn’t help but shake his head. “I should have known.”

“Rudy..”

The boy looked over at her. Between the growing numbness and the lingering fear still there, he couldn’t really bring himself to really glare much at all at her. Perhaps he would react more strongly once his mind settled down enough to let it happen. But for ow, he just...couldn’t bring himself to do little more than give Terry a blank stare.

Terry kept her mouth open for a few seconds before, after failing to speak, just shut it tightly. She let out a small grunt as she leaned back away, slowly turning her head to the side. Her face seemed to just explode with several expressions at once before she finally stopped and sighed. She closed her eyes softly and her mouth slowly opened up to speak.

“I...I know that there isn’t much I can say right now to...” Terry stopped herself and it looked like she was really struggling. Rudy wasn’t really sure if he should feel sympathy for her or not. “You’ve hurt me. I’ve hurt you.” She sucked on her lip for a second before she released a bitter chuckle. She looked down at Rudy. “Th-This has gotten messed up, hasn’t it?”

Rudy didn’t answer her with anything other than a short, quick nod. What could he really say to her? If he tried too hard right now, his fears might reawaken and that in turn would... He tried not to think about it.

Terry lifted her head up, staring out into the distance. It was hard to tell what she was looking at, or if she was looking at anything at all. Rudy couldn’t really bring himself to be too concerned however. He just...wanted more answewrs. Once she had let it be known what was really going on, that anger he should have felt before began to slowly rise inside of him. He could feel his body shaking a little once more as his burning mind yearned for answers.

“J-J-Just... why did you do it.... Why didn’t you just...” Rudy trembled, his eyes squinting shut tightly as tears flowed down his face. “Why didn’t you just get rid of me why you had the chance..? Why did you decide to kidnap me and play this mind game with me? Why?!” Rudy had to fight against his internal urges to just launch himself at the vile woman before him, resisting the urge to tear into her. He instead resorted to panting heavily as his mind turned about rapidly. “Wh-Why...? What did you have to gain from it?”

“I-I.... I know that you’re upset and I can u-undersand that...” Terry whispered. She leaned a bit away from Rudy at this point, as though she were afraid on some level that he was going to attack her. “But I-I.. I’m not.... N-N-Not anymore, I mean, I...”

Rudy narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck are you talking about...?”

Terry seemed to hesitate at first. She the forced out a sigh and her voice came out in a forced calm state that sounded pretty fake. “Yes, I admit it... W-We were originally just keeping you for... Well....” She swallowed hard as she glanced at Rudy sideways. “It was just an act for a while. But I mean...a few months is a long time and we had to constantly interact with you and....”

Rudy felt his heart sting with conflicting emotions as he said, “...then things changed...?” At this point, he seemed to have gotten control over his fear. He wondered if that was in part due to his relationship he developed with these two, even if it was partially based on false pretenses.

“Y-Y-Yeah... You could say that.” Terry shut her eyes, gritting her teeth. “We tried to fight against it. We hadn’t meant to develop this....this attachment, yet it happened. And because of that...” She formed a tight fist with her hand as she pressed it against the ground firmly. “Th-This isn’t the way it was supposed to happen. N-Now it’s just...nothing but confusion. Perhaps you were right... Perhaps it would have been better if I had just gotten rid of you when I found you in the snow.”

Rudy flinched as Terry said this. There was no hostility in her voice when she said that. Just frustration. And he couldn’t really deny that being more straight forward would have resulted in less confusion. But that didn’t make it any easier to listen to, and he could feel his heart starting to race as he prepared himself to run in case things did delve in that far.

Terry seemed to notice the look in his eyes and exhaled deeply. “Yeah I know...I...” Her voice trailed off for a moment. It seemed so strange to hear her talk this way. It was so unlike her, so unlike the Terry that he knew from before, prior to all of this taking place. She soon forced herself to speak up again. “I wish that things could have been different, and yet...here we are.”

Rudy nodded curtly at this, furrowing his eyes further. He was torn between what to think, what to feel. Burning fire and freezing ice made its home inside of his heart, causing him great pain. He struggled to think of what he was going to do, what he was going to say, but he could only just exchale forcibly.

He had no idea where this conversation was going to go. He couldn’t tell if Terry was even sorry for what she did or just sorry for herself. He didn’t know if he himself was still that terrified of her or if he was attached to her in some way. They were both suffering from compounding confusion that caused their heads to spin, and it would take a long time before they could figure out just what they were going to do about it.

Eventually, Terry decided to break the silence. Rudy could feel her slipping away from him as she stood up. He immediately froze at first, remembering that one time when he was on the ground and Terry towering over him. And then her hand came dow....but instead of striking him like she had before, this time, Terry was just offering her hand to him.

“Come on... We should... We should find a way out of here.” Terry said nervously.

Rudy looked at her hand and froze for a few moments. But then, sighing deeply, he took it, squeezing it tightly as Terry pulled back, bringing him up to his feet. Rudy stumbled a little as he tried to steady himself, but he was soon able to balance himself.

Slowly, he nodded in return. “Y-Yeah... I think that’s for the best.”

Terry looked in the room around them. “Where...do you think we should go?”

Rudy turned his head, noticing a tunnel down there. “Maybe that way?”

Terry blinked at him. “You don’t know?”

Rudy shrugged. “I haven’t been down this deep in the mines before. But I’m sure we can....”

Suddenly the two froze when they heard a shout behind them. They looked at each other for a split second before looking behind them, over their shoulder. They immediately took notice of someone, small and dark-haired and familiar, rushing towards them.

It was Vinnie.

sss

“Take him away.” Penny stated simply. She didn’t bother going into any detail. What more was there left to say? “I’m sure you’ll know what to do with him.”

Snap nodded his head as he stared at the officer before him. “We do thank you for your help.”

The officer zoner smiled and nodded his head in return. “We should be thanking you. It’s taken way too long to capture this guy. Now he’s under our supervision.”

Penny wanted to feel happy about this. She was watching the police zoners literally dragging Skrawl away to lock him up. Okay no, not dragging him, pushing him away. He was strapped down and secured, unable to escape even if he did wake up. But there was still a small knot forming in her throat that she couldn’t push back very much. And was there any surprise to that? After all that’s happened....

But regardless, she still put on her best smile. “Now he won’t be able to try to take over ChalkZone again.”

Or rather, she hoped that would be the case. But she knew how Skrawl was. She knew that he was not going to back down so easily. Even if locked up, he would try to find a way out. After all, the Beanie Boys wouldn’t let their leader be locked up for long. They would try to break him out was soon as possible. They would just have to keep an eye out on them and keep Skrawl secured.

In the meantime, however, Penny had to refocus her attention on something else. She did feel a bit bad with not saying anything else to the police officer. Or any of them, really. But they were already walking away with Skrawl in custody. And she didn’t want to bother them. So it was time for her and Snap to go back to what they needed to take care of themselves.

The two of them exchanged looks with each other as they both tried to think of what the next step would be. This fight with Skrawl caused them to temporarily lose track of where the others had gone off to, and it made them worry just how much time they had wasted. Could something have happened in the meantime?

While it did seem like Terry and Vinnie were willing to help them, Penny couldn’t shake off the feeling that they only wanted to keep using Rudy. She didn’t have as much faith with him being alone with those two and she wanted to find him as quickly as psosible. She knew that Snap felt the same way, and so did Rapsheeba, who had run off earlier. Penny had some ideas on where she went, and she bet that if they find Terry and Vinnie, Rapsheeba would not be too far behind.

Penny waited until the officers had completely left before she and Snap began to move forward, heading in the direction they believed was the right way. Didn’t those guys disappear towards the Chalk Mine? That seemed to be possible. They...

Penny could feel her heart tighten. A part of her started to hope that this wasn’t the direction they had gone in. What would stop them from taking the chalk...? Did Biclops go this way? Penny had a hard time remembering, and the urgency to know made her move faster.

“I’m sure Biclops caught up to those creepazoids.” Snap growled, his voice slightly strained due to his quick movements. Penny looked and she could see how deeply his eyes were narrowed. “Don’t worry. He wouldn’t let them get a single hand on the magic chalk.”

“They already have magic chalk.” Penny informed him. “Though they hadn’t made any use of it yet...”

Snap didn’t really looked all that relieved by this. “They’re probably saving it for something.”

Penny opened her mouth to speak, only to pause and hesitate for a moment. Slowly, she exhaled, turning her head slightly down. “Yeah, you’re probably right...” She looked over at her friend, making a quick gesture with her hand. “Come on, let’s see if we can’t catch up to them quickly.”

Snap nodded his head silently. The two friends proceeded to move as quickly as they could, trying to reach the Chalk Mine soon. It shouldn’t take them too long to reach it, hopefully. The sooner they got there, the better.

Penny wondered how Rudy was doing. She did feel bad for not being able to rejoin him sooner. It wasn’t like she and Snap thought that Skrawl’s fight would take this long, nor did they think it would take several minutes for the police to show up. Penny had to actually give Skrawl another dosage to keep him knocked out for a little longer so that he didn’t have much of a chance to escape.

But at least they were leaving now and that’s what mattered. And if Terry and Vinnie still wanted to use Rudy, they would want to keep him alive and probably unharmed. So there was that. But there was still the fear that they would try to leave quickly, go into a new hiding place, and it would be another few months before they see their friend again. Penny and Snap both had very little reason to believe that they wouldn’t do this, which added to their urgent ‘let’s get the fuck over there now’ feelings rising up inside of them.

If Vinnie and Terry even tried to escape out of here with Rudy...

The only consolation is that at least Rapsheeba supposedly went after them. And Biclops, too. If they tried to leave, they would have to face them. Plus those two don’t even realize how portals work and how they would need to find the right surface. It would be difficult for them to get the hang of it at first and they could end up getting themselves stuck.

It didn’t take them that long to get to the Chalk Mine. In fact, it was a much shorter trip than she had anticipated. She didn’t even know how this was possible. Not that she was really complaining, of course. The fact that she could see the Chalk Mine dead ahead of her did fill her up with some sense of hope. Not only did it not look attacked, but she saw no sign of Vinnie or Terry leaving. Though that last bit could be a good thing or a bad thing.

Penny struggled not to allow that to get to her too much. She exchanged firm glances with Snap, nodding her head once affirmatively, before she turned and set out to move in closer towards the cave.

Penny and Snap took their time, not wanting to do anything raise alarms. They didn’t want to make even the slightest of sound, fearful in doing so would make Vinnie and Terry panic and try to leave with Rudy. If they were to catch them off guard at all, they would much rather it be at a point where those two couldn’t really escape or try to flee. They didn’t want them to have any sort of chance of being able to crawl away, and startling them when they were not prepared was a good way to do that. Penny clutched her magic chalk tightly, fully prepared to attack when need be.

Soon the two were getting close to the Chalk Mine entrance. They froze there for a few moments, standing there and trying to think of how they would go about this. They then swallowed and slowly stepped into the mines. As they did, they carefully looked around, looking for any sign of trouble. The silence did a two-fold thing. It both relieved them...and it concerned them.

When they got in deeper and soon entered the large chamber where the magic chalk hung from the ceiling, they still didn’t see anyone. They craned their heads up, looking all around. No magic chalk appears to have been taken, so that was a good thing. It meant that Vinnie and Terry didn’t try to take any. So they had a chance to...

...but what about the other chambers? The white chalk wasn’t the only one, after all. Perhaps they could have gone down to one of those?

...maybe the red chalk chamber...?

They widened their eyes in horror at this idea, staring at each other in shock. They didn’t really know for sure if those two idiots went into that chamber or not. But if they did, then the consequences were rather dire. They would need to go find them and stop them before it was too late.

But...which way should they go...?

They didn’t have to wait for long. Within moments of that thought racing through their minds, they could hear a voice echoing down from within the deeper chambers.

“Hey will you hurry it up in there? Time is ticking!”

It was Biclops.

Penny and Snap barely looked at each other before they raced down the corridor.

sss

Mr. Tabootie watched in silence as Mrs. Sanchez examined the cloth. He had an arm over his wife’s shoulder as the two of them waited for some kind of a response. They didn’t really now what to expect, but they still feared for the worst.

Were those markings actually blood? They were so dried up and dark that it was hard to tell. It surely looked like blood, but it was difficult to say at this point. All they could do was just wait in silence and see what their friend had to say.

The waiting was horrible, dragging on like some kind of long serpent that never ended. It wrapped itself around in its coils and refused to let them go. Mr. Tabootie licked his lips slowly and swallowed hard. He tried his best to comfort his wife, whispering to her and rubbing her arm. But he could only do so much. And he hismelf was getting worried. What if this really was blood? What would it...

Finally, after a while of waiting, a while of getting worked up, the two of them got a response from Mrs. Sanchez.

“Yes, it’s blood.”

This was not the news they wanted to hear. A bandage covered in blood... Sure it might be someone else. Sure, it probably wasn’t any of their children. But what if it was? The thought of their children being injured like this, to this degree, horrified them, and they could feel their hearts twisting up inside, making them feel sick. It could go in any direction at this point, and somehow that just made it all the more terrible.

Considering the amount of blood on the cloth, even if it wasn’t too large, told them enough of what had happened. There had been significant blood loss, and that only meant a bad enough injury. There was little reason to doubt that this was the only cloth here. There might have been more, meaning that this injury would have taken a while and...

Mr. Tabootie sucked in a sharp breath, his blood freezing solid. Didn’t his wife say to them.... Didn’t they... The man slowly looked down at his wife, trying so hard not to shake and tremble yet failing miserably. He didn’t know how he should bring up or how to say it. But if his thoughts were correct then...

“J-Joe...? What is it...?” Mrs. Tabootie whispered softly, sounding rather spooked.

Mr. Tabootie licked his lips slowly and bit onto them. He didn’t know what he was going to say or do, but he knew he had to tell her. She and Mrs. Sanchez both needed a reminder of this. While he hated to think of the situation like this, it would still shed some light on the situation. It would help them better understand what they were dealing with and it would confirm, hopefully, that they were where they needed to be.

“There was blood around that area in the snow, wasn’t there?” Joe whispered softly.

Millie tilted her head. “What are... Oh no...” Her eyes widened in horror. “Oh gawd... It c-c-can’t be...”

Mrs. Sanchez already looked horrified by the discovery. She glanced down at the cloth, her whole body shaking. “Th-This could be..”

Mr. Tabootie nodded his head solemnly. “If that really was Rudy there... And that marking in the ground was small enough to be him...” He slowly turned his head to one side, staring out into the distance. “Then there’s a good chance that this cloth was also his...”

What this meant came crashing down upon them, nearly breaking their minds. They knew that if the blood truly was Rudy’s, then he had been badly injured. And that meant Penny also could have been hurt. They all began to wonder just what happened to their children and if they were all right. What if something else happened?

At least they were in the right location. They had a chance to find their children.

There was no time to waste.


	5. Part 5

“Vinnie?!” Terry shouted, taking a quick step backwards. She stared in shock at the man before her. She hadn’t expected to see him coming in so quickly. Or even at all. In that moment, she had forgotten about her situation with Rudy as she watched the man carefully. “What are you doing here?!”

Vinnie rushed towards her and Rudy. He looked absolutely exhausted, not to mention frightened. It was like he had seen some kind of a ghost or something. He was clearly in a hurry, rushing to get to them as quickly as possible. His heavy panting could be heard throughout the walls, which only made Terry feel even more apprehensive. Just what the fuck was going on here?

She glanced down at Rudy. He looked just as startled and confused as her. He had moved back away from both her and Vinnie, looking unsure of what to do. Terry bit her lip and tried to think of something to say to him, but she soon looked back at Vinnie, narrowing her eyes slowly. Something was going on here and she was going to find out what it was.

“Vinnie!” Terry called out again. When Vinnie didn’t answer her or try to stop, she raised her hand up. This swift motion was enough to cause Vinnie to start to skid a little, scrambling to stop. When he did, Terry continued, “Just what the heck is going on? Why are you running at us like that? Where’s the fire?” She held her hands out at her side, showing Vinnie just how shocked she was at his behavior.

Vinnie panted heavily, staring at Terry in fear and uncertainty. He stood there for several moments, his mouth wide open and panting with great force. He looked behind him, and from the look on his face, it was clear that he thought he was being followed. He looked back at Terry, staring at her intently.

The way that he was looking at her... Terry could tell that it wasn’t anything good.

“Th-The giant...” Vinnie finally spoke, his voice crackling. “H-He...”

Terry frowned in confusion at first. Then they widened. “You mean...?”

Vinnie nodded his head. “He wanted me to get you guys...”

Rudy moved forward slowly, keeping quiet. He looked hesitant at first, but he soon managed to ask, “Are you talking about B-Biclops?”

Vinnie looked over at Rudy. The horrified look in his eyes seemed to increase in intensity. “Y-Yeah him! He threatened me.... He threatened you and me...” He pointed from himself to Terry. “H-He wants us to go back to him with Rudy in about ten minutes or maybe it was fiften.... I-I don’t know..” He gripped his head tightly before he raised his hands up into the air. “But he threatened to crush us into powder if we don’t come back!”

Terry felt herself freeze at this. “He said what?”

Rudy looked just as shocked. “B-But... He wouldn’t... I-I mean...He...”

Vinnie glared at Rudy. “He sounded very serious...”

Terry furrowed her eyes a little at this. She tried to think of what to do or say to this. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to confront that creature or not. After all, they were trespassing here and Rudy did say that Biclops is really protective of his place. What was he going to do when she and Vinnie showed up? Was he going to be understanding or was he going to do something about them? She would rather not know.

But she knew that there was not much of a choice. He knew this place well, didn’t he? That giant zoner might be able to find a way to cut them off and drag them back. And since they had Rudy with them, he might have more of a reason to be aggressive. She had a feeling that the best policy that they could do right now was to just...do what the giant said. They needed to get a move on and just....confront him. That was the best thing to do.

Of course she was terrified of the idea. She knew that the giant could deal a lot of damage if they gave him even an inkling of a reason to. It wasn’t like they eve had the best reputation here. The zoners....didn’t like them very much. She would be very much surprised if Biclops just let her walk away without doing so much as slapping her.

She swallowed hard and she nodded towards Vinnie. Better to get this done as soon as possible, anyway. She did not want to find out if Biclops would really do what he said he would or not. “Y-Yeah... I think he was serious, too.” She swallowed hard as she motioned towards Rudy. “L-Let’s get going...”

Rudy stared up at her, his eyes narrowing slightly in skepticism. Terry could feel a slight sting in her heart at this, where before she would have been neutral towards it. Even if she tried to deny it, she knew deep down that she did regret her earlier actions and she....wanted Rudy to trust her again, even if complete trust wasn’t so likely after what happened. After what she told him....

But despite his uncertainties, Rudy still slowly walked beside her. Terry just nodded to him before walking foward to join the frantic Vinnie, who had already started to rush back in the direction he had come from. He was definitely in a hurry, and Terry quickened her pace a little so that she didn’t lose him.

Rudy remained nearby, although he did little to really come close to her. Terry tried to shirk off the disappointment she felt at this, reminding herself that this was what they called karma. She tried not to look at him too much as they continued on forward.

They seemed to be making pretty good progress. They already traversed several yards in a few seconds. They’d get there soon. But then they had to confront Biclops...

Terry gulped at the thought of that, giving a shudder. She didn’t want to know what the giant would do to them if they were to confront him. And she was even more concerned over how Biclops would react if they were to run. It seemed like they were truly caught between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes.

But she tried not to let herself get too worked up. She doubted that she and Vinnie could have a productive meeting with Biclops if she were continuously slipping up her words. That would probably paint her rapidly in a negative light and she would much rather avoid that. So, staring intently ahead, forming a small fist with her hands, she strutted forward faster. They were getting closer and she imagined that it wouldn’t take her long before she would reach that particular location. Wherever Vinnie was taking them, that is.

She turned out to be right. She and Rudy nearly stopped dead in their tracks when Vinnie abruptly stopped his movements. They nearly collided with him and had to scramble to step back a little. Vinnie hardly looked at them as he grabbed onto the rope that hung down from the opening above them.

Terry immediately recognized this as the spot where she and Rudy had fallen down at. She noticed just how far it was and how rough it looked and it made her flinch. She ended up rubbing the side of her face carefully as she imagined how painful it was for her and Rudy to drop down that far. She forced herself to shake it off and took a step forward.

“Are we supposed to climb that?” Terry asked, her eyes frowning deeply. “That doesn’t look like it’s exactly safe.”

Vinnie turned to glare softly at her. Then he shook his head slowly. “No.”

Terry blinked at this. She cocked her head to one side. “Then what is the rope for?” She pointed at the long rope that Vinnie held in his hand. “If that’s not for climbing, then how are we going to use it?”

Vinnie slowly wrapped the rope around his hand, staring intently at Terry. He said softly, “Just watch. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Terry and Rudy glanced at each other. Neither of them understood where Vinnie was coming from. They looked back and waited to see what he was about to do. A part of Terry hoped that the man didn’t just snap or something. The thought made her flinch and she couldn’t help but growl in frustration. Especially when she saw Vinnie tugging at the rope desperately like some kind of small child.

She wanted to say something to this. But all that she could bring herself to do was just slap her palm against her forehead and shake her head slowly. It eventually got to the point where she just had to step up. Even Rudy looked like he was ready to stop Vinnie, despite the boy’s renewed fears.

“Vinnie...” Terry finally said. “What the heck are you...”

“Oh come on... They told me to tug it when I...” Vinnie ignored Terry, focusing on the rope intently. He grabbed onto it tightly and pulled down on the rope repeatedly. “Hey up there! Pull us up! Don’t you see the thing...” He didn’t finish his sentence. He just growled loudly before pulling down a little harder, as though hoping to cause something to happen.

Terry placed her hand on Vinnie’s shoulder, gripping it firmly. “Vinnie, settle down, you’re scaring us.” Or was he? She didn’t really look over at Rudy, but she imagined that he likely felt the same way.

Vinnie turned to glare at her. “It’s not my fault they’re not....”

Suddenly, there was a sharp tug on the rope. It all happened so fast. Terry let out a scream when Vinnie grabbed onto her, and she could feel Rudy, likely startled from the whole thing, grabbing onto her legs. Her vision became a blur as images of rock and stone rushed passed her. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to cope with the fast movement of them being raised up from the ground, up this tunnel, and then...

Terry was suddenly aware of herself being dropped against the ground heavily. She spun and tumbled around a little before she finally stopped. She laid there on the ground for several moments, her eyes blinking slowly before she crawled up to her feet. She let out a small groan as she lifted her hand up and rubbed her face.

She could hear Vinnie and Rudy moaning a bit in pain as well. They were coughing and spluttering, at least mostly Rudy was. Realizing that Rudy probably hit the ground the hardest, Terry turned her head to see how Rudy was doing. But as she did so, she caught a glimpse of a massive foot that caused her to immediately freeze. She gulped and she forced herself to look up.

There stood Biclops.

The massive zoner seemed even more huge now that she was looking at him directly. His large eyes, which looked as though she could use them as excercise balls stared directly at her, and he growled deeply, as though he were struggling to think of what to do with her. Terry gulped nervously and she could only just smile at the massive zoner, her heart racing inside of her chest.

There was an uncomfortable silence that remained in the area. So focused on the giant that she and the other two were, they failed to really notice if anyone else was with Biclops or not. They were too focused on Biclops and whatever he was going to say. It seemed to take a while, and the longer that they were silent, the more that Biclops’s stare seemed to intensify.

Then slowly, Biclops began to speak. “How do you two like to explain yourselves...?” He was clearly referring to her and Vinnie.

Terry stammered. “I-I... Well...”

But she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. What could she say? Anything she would attempt could just piss off the giant more and...

Oh gawd, what did she and Vinnie get themselves into....?

sss

Penny and Snap watched the scene unfold before them, remaining as silent as possible. Neither of them had a strong idea of what to do or what to think of this situation. They didn’t really know what to expect when they came down here, but it certainly wasn’t this.

Then again, should they really be that surprised?

Snap gritted his teeth tightly, keeping his hands pressed up against the wall, as he watched Biclops towering over Vinnie and Terry. He could feel himself start to smile a little bit, his mouth corners spreading upwards. It was a bit rewarding to see the two getting what they deserved. They needed a verbal takedown after what they had done. Biclops was the perfect one to do that.

Penny, on the other hand, looked a little concerned. Snap didn’t really understand why, though. What was she worried about? Biclops was right there, imposing and large and powerful. There was little that Terry or Vinnie could do to escape any of his attacks. They were pretty much just stuck there and they would have no choice but to listen to Biclops lest they want to get attacked. Biclops was so large, he could probably crush them very easily.

But he also understood why she was so nervous about this. It didn’t seem like exactly the best move to make and it might provoke those two into attacking. It didn’t seem like they had any magic chalk, but.... Snap frowned deeply as he stared at their hands and pockets. There didn’t seem to be any sort of bulge or anything that indicated they had anything. This didn’t mean that something wasn’t there, of course. But it did seem to strongly suggest that, even if they had a piece of chalk, they weren’t exactly thinking of using it.

It might have something to do with Biclops there. His appearance there alone might be so imposing and threatening, that the two creepazoids couldn’t bring themselves to try to fight back.

Once again, Snap felt himself smiling. At least now these two were getting a taste of their own medicine. And he was glad to see Rapsheeba there, too. She deserved to get back at those two with what she herself had gone through. He hoped that this helped to boost her confidence in some way.

He jolted when he could feel Penny putting her hand on his shoulder. He quickly turned and looked at her, wondering why she was so quick to grab him like that. He looked at her up and down, looking at just how tense Penny was. He licked his lips slowly and he was about to speak. But Penny was quick to cut him off.

“We have to try to stop this.”

Snap widened his eyes in shock at this. He stared at Penny as though she had gone insane. Why in the world did she want to do something like that? Didn’t she think that Terry and Vinnie deserved punishment? Didn’t they deserve to be a little scared for what they did?

Rudy didn’t seem to care. Snap couldn’t really see Rudy’s face so easily there, but he could tell that Rudy was at least there to begin with, and he wasn’t doing anything to try to help out the two adults. He might have finally realized what assholes these two had been and were just letting karma get to them.

But of course, Penny seemed to have gotten another idea.

“If we let this continue, Terry and Vinnie might have more of a reason to expose ChalkZone.” Penny said in a soft voice. She narrowed her eyes softly, not really noticing Snap’s change in expression. “We have to get Biclops to let up. The worst that he could do is let those two leave in fear of him.”

“But why do you think that they....” Snap wasn’t really sure what to say. He was still having a difficult time grasping Penny’s train of thought there. How did she honestly think that Vinnie and Terry would become a bigger threat after this?

Penny was quick to answer with, “Snap....don’t you get it..? If Biclops continues to treat them like this, and those two leave...” She slowly turned her head so that she could glare down at Snap. The way that she looked at him made him stiffen up. “..what’s to stop them from spreading the word on how dangerous zoners are...? What if they tried to do something extreme like....” She turned her head away, her expression making it clear that she didn’t want to think about this. “We have to do something...”

Snap could feel his heart skipping a beat as it finally dawned on him just what Penny was trying to say. He looked back at where the others were, feeling his heart pumping inside of his chest. He swallowed hard, tasting the bitterness in his mouth.

Penny was right. They had to do something.

But just what were they going to do? Snap couldn’t think of what the best route to take was. Should they just rush over there? Should they shout from afar? He didn’t want to accidentally make the situation worse. That wasn’t going to improve their situation, that’s for sure.

Regardless, he could already feel his legs propelling him forward. Penny followed close behind him. The two friends made their way over as quickly as possible, hoping that they would reach Biclops before things got really heated. Hopefully, they could stop this tense moment before things got too bad. Snap didn’t want to end up making the situation for ChalkZone even worse. He realized just how correct Penny was and how those two humans would likely call for ChalkZone’s enslavement and control if....

They rushed over as quickly as possible.

sss

Take in a deep breath and exhale... That was right... No need to get worked up over this. They had everything under control. It was going to be okay.

...or was it? What if something else were to happen? What if this was some kind of elaborate trap? What if something was going to pull the rug out from underneath them and they would have to....

He shook his head furiously. He was getting himself caught up in this a little too much. There was nothing to worry about. It wasn’t like they had anywhere to go, or anyway to fight back without him being able to react before them. Yeah, it should be okay. He just needed to make sure to stand tall and look imposing.

But still, no matter what he told himself, Biclops couldn’t bring himself to fully relax. He couldn’t get himself to just look at this situation without thinking that, at any moment, it could go downhill. He had to constantly fight with himself, but it didn’t seem like he could keep this up for long.

That was why he remained here, glaring at Vinnie and Terry. Rudy himself didn’t really do much except stand there. He looked lost and confused....and his expression suggested he was no longer sure what to think of these two humans. Perhaps it was time that something was done about that. Biclops had little reason to keep these two around.

But to just.... Could he really...? Well, it wasn’t like these two didn’t deserve it. Their solemn expressions and looks of fear weren’t going to make him feel that sorry for them. The only thing holding him back is what others would think of him if he tried to punish these two the way that he would have liked. Would they think that he had gone too far?

He furrowed his eyes deeply. Regardless, he had to do something about them. And standing here, staring at them, wasn’t going to do anything to help. Maybe he should just...get it done and over with.

Biclops let out a sigh as he took another step forward. Neither Rudy nor Rapsheeba tried to protest. If anything, at least Rapsheeba was looking forward to it. Perhaps she just really wanted to see Vinnie pay for how he had treated her. A bit of revenge-motivation there, not that he blamed her. And Rudy....well, he still needed a bit of time.

Biclops now stood so close to the two humans. He watched as they moved closer together, as though trying to merge into someone or something bigger. Biclops just growled softly as he raised his hand up slowly into the air. He kept it there, making a slow gesture with it.

Then he spoke, “I know you two might not think this is fair. But I can’t just let you walk around after what you’ve done. You deserve some kind of punishment for your actions.”

“P-Please..” Vinnie said. “Isn’t there anything....?”

Biclops took a quick glance and Rapsheeba before flaring down at Vinnie. “There isn’t anything that you have said or could say that would change my mind. You have given me no reason to think that you deserve nothing.”

“B-But you said...” Vinnie tried to say.

Terry cut him off, “But this isn’t fair! We haven’t done anything! We let Rudy go!” There was slight hesitation in that statement. “Why can’t you just...”

Biclops raised his fist up high so fast that it made the two humans jolt and grab onto each other. “That’s enough!” Biclops’s voice boomed. “If you didn’t want this to happen, then you should have just....”

“Biclops stop!”

“Please don’t do it!”

The giant was startled as voices suddenly echoed across the hallway. He immediately recognized those voices and knew that they couldn’t have been Rudy or Rapsheeba. And definitely not Terry or Vinnie. It was...

“Penny? Snap?” Biclops spoke as he turned his head, craining it over to see the two running at him. They were still a bit of a distance away, but they weren’t terribly far. They were going to close the distance in a matter of seconds. When Biclops managed to shake off the initial shock, his eyes furrowed. “What are you doing here? Have you come to...”

But the pair didn’t let him finish.

“Please don’t attack them!” Penny was the first one to speak. “Y-You can’t... It’s not...” She had to stop. She had apparently been running a little too long. She grabbed onto her thighs, lowered herself, and gasped loudly.

Snap, who looked like he was in slightly better shape, continued for her. “It’s not going to be a good idea to hurt those two, Biclops. Even if they do deserve it...” He shot a glare at Terry and Vinnie, showing his absolute disgust with them.

Biclops stared at the two in confusion before looking at the humans. “But... why should they get away from...”

“W-We never said...they won’t get what they deserve...” Penny said. Her voice sounded pretty strained and dry. It was a miracle that she could speak at all. “But we think that there is a better way than just...whatever it is you were going to do.”

Biclops was about to say something to that, but then he paused. He suddenly realized that he had no idea what he was going to do. Was he going to hit Terry and Vinnie? Or did he have something else in mind? Whatever it was, it seemed his body was a bit too frozen to even try. Something about Penny’s expression was piercing.

But why didn’t she want them punished? He thought for sure what she wanted something done to them. He looked back over at the two, who were still clinging to each other. He frowned deeply. He wasn’t going to let them so easily get away, regardless.

Penny seemed to have caught on to what Biclops was thinking. She took a step forward and said, “It’s not that we don’t want something done... But we fear that there could be horrible backlash if you’re the one who did something.”

Biclops blinked as he stared at Penny.

“I mean, think about it. If those two go back to the Real World injured, what’s going to stop them from spreading the word? What would stop them from telling everyone what happened?” Penny rubbed her hands together, looking rather nervous. “Perhaps it’s best to just....let the authorities in my world...our world...do something about them.”

Rapsheeba walked over to Penny slowly. Biclops, as well as the others, remained silent. The singer zoner stood in front of Penny. It was hard to tell what kind of expression she was wearing. But somehow, her whole body looked quite tense and even from here, Biclops could sense the aura surrounding her. Rapsheeba remained this way for several moments before she spoke.

“Would the Real World be able to arrest....him..” She pointed at Vinnie as she said this, her voice trembling slightly and filled with venom. “...f-f-for what he did to me...?”

Penny opened her mouth as though to respond, but she quickly had to shut it. She turned her gaze to the side. “Well I’m not...really sure. He’d still get arrested, but maybe not for that... It would be too risky for...”

“Then I wouldn’t say that is fair.” Rapsheeba said firmly. “I want that asshole to pay.”

Penny bit her lip firmly. “I know you do. But we can’t do anything in here. They...” Penny swallowed hard, looking as though it was getting increasingly difficult for her to speak. “They can’t get hurt and return here because they might snitch and that would just make this world seem more dangerous, which in turn would lead to....well, I’m sure you can imagine what would happen.”

Biclops took in a sharp breath of horror at this. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that before. Penny did make a good point. He might end up making things a heck of a lot worse if he...

Rapsheeba didn’t seem like she was willing to back down. “I don’t care! He had...hurt me! That asshole deserves something!” She took another step towards Penny, her body trembling. “You’re my friend! You’re supposed to side with me!”

“I-I do! Trust me, I do think he deserves something. They both do!” Penny raised her hands up. “But this is.... It’s just complicated. We don’t want to endanger ChalkZone. We don’t want them to return to...”

Rapsheeba’s voice got dark. “Who said they had to return....”

The implications were rather clear. It was enough to send a shockwave throughout the room. Vinnie and Terry looked on in horror, but couldn’t bring themselves to speak. Rudy’s eyes widened, though he too remained silent. Penny was startled and moved back, her hands raised slightly and fingers semi arched. And Snap looked at Rapsheeba as though she had been replaced by a doppelganger.

Biclops himself wasn’t taking this reaction well. He couldn’t believe that Rapsheeba would even....hint at such a thing. Even he himself didn’t really want to go that far with them. That isn’t.... That’s not what he wanted...

Rapsheeba’s anger and rage was understandable. That didn’t make this situation any less horrifying, however. To see Rapsheeba like this was....rather uncomfortable and it took a while for anyone to even start thinking clearly after that. Though understandably, Vinnie and Terry would take the longest to recover. They were still holding onto each other and shaking, if not even harder now.

“Rapsheeba....” Snap whispered. He was the only one who dared to get close to her after what she said. “You don’t mean that... Do you?”

Rapsheeba shot a more intense glare at Snap, her teeth becoming bared. For a few seconds, it really did look as though she was going to tell him to ‘fuck off’ and how unfair it was that they weren’t letting her have her revenge. Her body shook and everyone prepared for her outburst.

But instead of that, they got something else entirely.

Rapsheeba still trembled, still shook, but her expression had begun to soften up. She looked at Snap more and more like she were some sort of lost child. She did try to respond, but her words were slurred and mixed together, and she continuously sucked in trembling breath after trembling breath. She lowered her head and she shut her eyes tightly. A few tears started to form and drop to the ground.

Then without warning, Rapsheeba just let out a small cry as she dropped down onto her knees. She immediately covered her face in her hands, a few low cries starting to emit from her mouth. She lowered her head further as she continued to just shake and sob, the weight of everything happening to her crawling back, becoming a force that she could not simply ignore.

Snap watched this, his mouth partially open and lip quivering. He clearly wanted to say something, but all he could do was just drop to his knees in front of Rapsheeba. He leaned in towards her and spread his arms open. In a matter of seconds, he secured her in his embrace and rested his chin on her shoulder. Everyone else just remained quiet, looking on in silence as the blue zoner attempted to comfort his friend.

sss

Penny had no idea what to say to this. She hadn’t expected Rapsheeba to just snap like that. She didn’t expect her to just break down in that manner. She could feel her heart skipping a bit and she swallowed hard. It was almost like Rapsheeba had been replaced with someone else.

...this was similar to how she and Snap noticed how different Rudy was acting. Back when Terry was tormenting him and Rudy couldn’t say anything... Penny felt her heart sting at how similar this situation was. It was a repeat, and she couldn’t think of what to say to...

She shook her head, bringing herself back to attention. She took a moment to look around and grasp an idea of what was happening. Everything seemed so still and so quiet, yet she could somehow still register movement.

She could see Biclops still standing there, doing nothing.

She could see Rapsheeba holding onto Snap, the two of them trying to comfort the other.

She could see Vinnie and Terry hanging onto each other as though they feared death if they were to let go.

Then finally she laid her eyes on one particular human.

Rudy.

The small human didn’t seem to have noticed her. He was too busy looking at Rapsheeba and Snap. It was as though nothing else was reading his mind at the moment. His mouth hung open slightly as though he wanted to speak. But his voice appeared to be almost gone from him. There was nothing that he could say or do to get himself to talk.

And then he noticed her and he stiffened up. The two children locked eyes with each other. It felt like an eternity was going by. They weren’t able to look away from each other, as though drawn in by some invisible magnet. They stayed like this for who knows how long, many emotions rushing in front of their eyes. If they had been trying to hold back before, it was getting incredibly difficult now. This became apparent as tears began to form in each other’s eyes.

Penny could feel a wash of some kind of emotion going through her. Was it warm? Was it chilly? Was it both? She couldn’t tell. Her mind was spinning too fast to fully register everything that was going on. All that she knew for certain is that she was feeling slightly weak, her legs bending a little in response to the weight of emotion on her shoulders. She struggled to figure out how she was going to handle this, but as time ticked by, it only seemed to get increasingly worse.

What was she going to do? Seeing Rudy right now caused a whole slew of emotions to shoot through her body. A part of her wanted to hold onto Rudy for the first time in months. Yet another part of her still held back. Was he back to his normal self?

But despite that, she still felt herself walking towards Rudy slowly. She hardly paid attention to anyone else around her. At least at first. She just felt herself drawn to the boy. Rudy himself wasn’t doing anything except staring at her. That’s how it remained for the first minute or so.

Then Rudy began to back a way a little, cringing as though he thought she was going to attack. Penny could feel her heart breaking from this. Had she and Snap made Rudy wary of them? She rubbed her hands together as she stood a few feet away. That hadn’t been their intention. She just....wanted him to realize what he was doing. She moved in closer, reaching her hand out towards him....

...only for Rudy to immediately cringe back. He gave her a sideways look, uncertainty glowing from his eyes. It was enough to make Penny flinch and look away.

Slowly, she looked over at Vinnie and Terry. They eyed her nervously, guilt obviously showing on their faces. Penny stared at them for a moment before narrowing her eyes. She noticed how they reacted to it, but she didn’t let it bother her. As the two forced themselves to look away, Penny turned her attention back to Rudy. She move din even closer, reaching her hands out once more.

This time, Rudy didn’t attempt to move away. He allowed her to slowly place her hands on his face, feeling his warm cheeks and cool tears. More emotions surged as Penny carefully stroked Rudy’s face, moving his hair to the side, away from his eyes. In that moment, Penny could feel herself taking in shuddering breath after shuddering breath, the back of her head flashing with all the things that happened to Rudy since that foul, disgusting woman made a move against him.

Penny could feel her lip curling down as she whispered, “R-Rudy....”

Penny moved in closer and slowly, but surely, wrapped her arms around Rudy. The body gave a shuddering gasp, a quake rushing through his stiffened body, but he did nothing to fight back. Penny just pulled him in closer, squeezing him against herself. Rudy remained still for several moments before Penny could feel him hugging her back. They remained like this for the next several moments, Penny gently rubbing Rudy’s back as she tried to cheer both of them up.

sss

Well... This was... Vinnie didn’t want to say ‘awkward’, but that seemed like the only word that was going to fit here. Awkward, and just... What else could he say to describe this situation?

He could hardly move, not even to use this chance to escape. It felt as though there was nothing that they could do right now. He and Terry could only just watch as the events unfolded before them. Lots of crying, friends hugging each other, the watchful giant keeping an eye on them...

Vinnie furrowed his eyes as he tried to think of what their next move was going to be. The future for both of them was in a pretty uncertain place right now. Neither of them knew what would happe next. All he could do was just bite his lip firmly as he felt his gut twisting up inside. And to think, none of this would have happened if Terry hadn’t insisted they take Rudy in the first place...

But there was nothing that they could do about that now, was there? He shook the thoughts out of his head as he tried to refocus his attention on what they were going to do now. Should they even try to speak? Or would that make their situation much worse?

Perhaps.... Perhaps it was time for them to go? There wasn’t much more of a reason for them to be here. They were not welcomed here. It wasn’t like any of the people here, human or zoner, wanted them to stick around. It was quite clear as day that he and Terry had lost. There was nothing left to fight for right now. There goes their plans for the amusement park and exposing ChalkZone and proving to everyone that they weren’t a bunch of idiots....

But oh well, there was no use in crying over spilled milk. Vinnie would rather just cut their losses now and leave before things get worse. He had no idea what the giant had planned for them, and he realized that they should probably take this moment to try to flee. Or at least, ask to be let go provded they return to their own world. The zoners wouldn’t mind that, right? Just them leaving back into the Real World and all.

And besides, the sooner he got away from Rapsheeba, the better. He had already started to regret before what he did, and now that had increased tenfold. He shouldn’t be that surprised with how hostile she was about those words, what her implications were. But it was still all the more horrifying. He would be glad to just sit down against his couch in the living room being mocked for his belief in a ‘chalk world’ so long as it meant staying away from her.

But when he turned his head to Terry, he noticed immediately that she wasn’t moving or even looking at him. She was still staring over at Rudy, who was still being held by Penny, crying. Vinnie looked from her to the boy and back again. It didn’t take him long to realize what was going on. As soon as his head clicked into realization, he reached over and grabbed onto Terry’s arm.

“It’s over now, Terry. Forget about him.” These words were harder for him to say than he would like to admit. He could feel a sting in his chest as well, unsure if he was going to be able to get over this so easily. “We should make our leave soon.”

Terry refused to look at him. She refused to look away. Her eyes remained focus on Rudy. However, she did whisper a small answer. “...where did we go wrong...?”

Vinnie blinked at her a few times. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. None of us could have predicted this.” He held his hand up in gesture. “We tried to make our plans and they failed. We should just move on.”

Terry glanced down at him sideways. “You would forget him that easily?”

Vinnie knew exactly who she was talking about. That didn’t stop him from freezing for a moment, caught between confusion and shock. On the one hand, he could see why Terry said that. Rudy had truly left a mark on them and they didn’t realize how close they were getting until it was too late. But on the other hand, he also knew that they couldn’t really remain this way forever. Not after what they had done. Surely Terry must have known this.

Well if she did, she was doing a good job of hiding this fact. She seemed to be avoiding the topic completely. She knew the truth. She knew they screwed up. But she just didn’t want to talk about it.

Neither did Vinnie. Now didn’t seem like a good time for that. Not with Rudy being hugged by Penny, and soon joined in by Rapsheeba and Snap. The four friends were speaking softly to each other, as though trying to cope with what had happened. Vinnie hadn’t seen those three brats... er, children like that before, and adding in Rapsheeba made it even more pronounced.

He noticed that the giant wasn’t looking at them anymore. He was too busy staring down at the four children, sympathy garnering up in his eyes. Now seemed like the perfect time to leave. Now seemed like their chance to get out of here before the giant changed his mind.

What would they do when they went back to the Real World? He had no fucking idea..... But he liked those odds better than in here. At least he knew what to expect in the Real World and understand it.

“Come on, Terry. We should leave now, while we still have a chance.” Vinnie flinched as he said that. He wasn’t sure why he had spoken it like that, but... When Terry looked at him once more, he swallowed hard and said, “We...We don’t belong here, in this place. Let’s just leave them be and go back to the Real World. We should...”

“Wouldn’t just abruptly leaving make them even more suspicious?” Terry interjected. Her voice seemed to crack slightly. She sighed as she looked away. “....we’re in enough hot water as it is. Let’s not.... Let’s not make it worse.”

Vinnie tried to think of something to say to this, but his voice ended up quieting down fast. There wasn’t really much that he could say in response. So he just took a step back and lowered his head slightly. He had to admit. Terry did have a point. Maybe running away too fast is not such a good idea. He...

“I hate to break up your reunion...” Biclop’s voice spoke in the air, catching the attention of everyone in the room, including the four children who had been previously hugging and comforting each other. “But I think there’s a bit of a matter that we all need to settle.”

Vinnie gulped as he and Terry were now suddenly the center of everyone’s attention.

Biclops hissed, “What do you all suppose we should do with them..?”

Vinnie took a step closer to Terry instinctively, feeling his body tense up. He remained silent as the others looked at him, unable to make out exactly kind of intent that they had in mind. He licked and wetted his lips a little nervously before leaning his head back and staring at the large giant. He wasn’t able to keep silent for much longer. “Wh-What do you plan on doing with us...?”

Biclops’s response was cold. “That...is up to Rudy Tabootie.” Penny, Snap, and Rapsheeba nodded in affirmation.

Vinnie and Terry looked over at Rudy. The small child looked away from them, as though not really sure what to make of them. He then turned to stare at them and his expression was pretty unreadable. This was enough to build up tension as the two adults waited to see what the child they had tormented and tried to control for months had in mind for what was to be done to them.

sss

“Did you find them?”

“Nothing up here. How about you?”

“Empty.”

“They have to be here somewhere.”

“Yeah I know, but we’ve searched almost everywhere. What if they’re...”

“We’re not giving up.”

Mrs. Tabootie didn’t mean to sound that firm. She understood the dire situation ahead of them all. She knew that they were all having some trouble to some extent. But she just.... She didn’t want to so easily give up. She would rather just keep going, keep searching, hoping that maybe they would find something here. Surely they would be able to...

But so far, their search seemed to have turned up with something. They weren’t able to see anything in particular that looked as though their children were here. Vinnie and Terry, if this was their place, did a good job with keeping things hidden. But there had to be something here that spelled everything out for them, making it impossible to declare anything else. There had to be an area that they hadn’t yet searched. They...

But at the moment, she couldn’t think of anything. Well outside of the basemeent, but Joe had already gone down there, yet to return. She and Mrs. Sanchez felt it was best to wait for him to return, since they already did a sweep of the upstairs.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t found any evidence of any child being here; but pinning them to their children was rather difficult. True, Vinnie and Terry could have gotten them new outfits or just forced them to wear the same clothing for however long it’s been to throw people off. But at the same time, it still could be someone else’s child, and they might be intruding. They might be breaking the law for no reason.

Millie shok the thought out of her head. She didn’t want to think of that possibility. She didn’t want to think that she and her husband and her friend were taking all of these risks for nothing. She wanted to keep believing that this was the right spot, and that their search had finally come to an end. She hoped that...

“Hey you two!”

Mrs. Tabootie and Mrs. Sanchez jumped up into the air at this sudden shout. The two women quickly turned their heads in the direction of the sound, wondering just what the fuck had happened.

“I think you two should come down here!” A pause. “I think I found something!”

Mrs. Tabootie licked her lips slowly. Joe had been down there for longer than she had expected him to be before he called out. Did it really take him this long to figure out if something was down there or not? Or was he just too swept up in shock to think of responding for a while?

Well whatever the reason, she and Mrs. Sanchez couldn’t just keep him waiting. She nodded to her friend before the two of them began to embark towards the steps. They grabbed onto the railings and, sucking in a slow, deep breath, they made their way down.

Almost immediately, they were struck with the smell of dank air, an uncomfortable wetness getting to them. They snorted it out and tried to fight against the smell. Just how often did those two clean this basement up? What in the world could have been down here? Did they not think that they...

The two women immediately froze once they reached the bottom step. They stared out ahead in shock, their eyes blinking rapidly. It didn’t take long for them to see what laid before them, plain as day. Their eyes widened in horror, their mouths licking slowly, becoming dry, swallowing hard. They looked at each other before tehy looked back, a part of them wondering if what they were seeing really was real, or if they had just imagined it.

No, this was real. This thing really was here. And all it did was make them feel even worse. There was a speck of fear already inside of them, but now it was starting to grow rapidly, overtaking them. They looked at each other once more before staring back, their throats going dry. Mrs. Tabootie took a few steps forward, her mind echoing with the same repeating question.

What the fuck was this...?

She could see her husband standing hear some kind of a cage. It was relatively tall, coming up to her husband’s chest. This cage seemed like it was meant for several large dogs, but there were no signs of dog stuff anywhere in the cage. Not even a simple bowl of water.

The presence of this cage alone was quite distressing to look at. Even if they didn’t know exactly what was going on with it, there was just...something about it that was quite unnerving. Just looking at it sent chills up and down her spine as she thought of all sorts of horrible images to go along with this. Including one of Rudy and Penny being locked up inside of this thing....

What were those monsters doing to them? What happened to Rudy and Penny? Was... Oh gawd.... Was that the cause of the smell? Why they disappeared? Had they...? Mrs. Tabootie fought against the tears forming and her mind swirling about. No, she couldn’t believe that. There had to be something more to this. There just had to be...

Mrs. Tabootie turned and stared at her husband. Surely he had found something else besides this, right? She licked her lips slowly as she made her way towards her husband. “J-Joe..” She spoke, her voice cracking a little. “D-Did you...find anything else?”

Joe turned to stare at her. He blinked a few times before he looked back at the cage. “This is all I found of interest. I did find a chalkboard down that way....” He pointed his thumb in that direction. “But that’s of no use to us.”

Mrs. Tabootie swallowed hard, feeling a sting spreading throughout her stomach. She looked back at the cage slowly, feeling her heart clenching tightly. “S-So this is really....”

Mr. Tabootie nodded his head affirmatively. “This is the only thing that I found that could tell us anything.” He shut his eyes lightly. “I’m sorry for the delay. I was trying to find something better to show you guys but... There was nothing. And I’m afraid I hadn’t found any positive news.” He opened his eyes slowly. They narrowed deeply. “If this thing is what I think it is...”

Mrs. Tabootie felt her heart skipping a beat as she swerved her head in Joe’s direction. He couldn’t possibly mean that this... But when Joe turned to stare solemnly at her, it felt like a rock dropped in her stomach. Oh gawd no...

The area fell immediately silent as that thought raced through her head. She could feel her chest stinging, her heart pounding heavily. She took in several trembling breaths as she looked left to right. She shook a little as emotion swept through her. Her husband and Mrs. Sanchez were also locked still, unable to think of what to say in response. The implications were rather strong.

What had happened here? Was it really as bad as they were thinking? Was there something else that they were missing? Mrs. Tabootie hoped that there had to be more to this than.... She shut her eyes tightly and shuddered. Why did this have to...

Her thoughts here cut off when she thought she heard something down the hallway that led into darkness. She looked over, staring at it intently. Perhaps she was just hearing things? Neither of the other two seemed to have noticed and were looking at her in confusion. But she could have sworn that she heard something and she wasn’t going to rest until she took a moment to find out what it was. She narrowed her eyes and she began to make her way down slowly.

Ignoring her husband’s and Mrs. Sanchez’s cries, she headed down, her mind still hardened by the memories of what she had seen. She needed to get down here and figure out what was going on. What was making that sound?

Staring out ahead, squinting her eyes more narrowly, she could see something had flashed before her. She was startled and jumped back, feeling a wave of shock overcoming her. She licked her lips slowly as she moved in closer, trying to get a good idea on what was happening before her. What in the world was going on over there? Why was....

That’s when she saw it. A light forming. Glowing brightly in the hallway and forcing her to look away. She shielded her eyes for a moment. As soon as the flash had blinded her, it had gone away. Slowly, she turned her head to look back, and when she locked her eyes on what was before her, she took in a sharp inhale of breath.

From where there were no people, now there stood a few. She felt a wave of mixed emotions surging through her body. They swirled about inside of her head, making her feel dizzied and sick. It all happened so fast and it was like her mind had been frozen solid as she tried to deal with these emotions.

It was like everything had come to a standstill. And all she could do was stare and wonder if she was seeing anything right. It was a sort of dream and she couldn’t wake up from it. Everything was whispy and had a dream-like feel to it, no matter what she said or did.

When she saw them approaching, she felt her blood turn cold, anger and fear rushing through her. Relieved and yet infuriated at the same time. She struggled to hold her breath, not wanting to choke out a cry or shout, even when her body trembled harder.

Is that...? Was it really...?

It was...

Rudy...

Mrs. Tabootie could feel her mind putting a shadow over everything else for a few seconds as she stared at her son, seeing him for the first time in months. He looked fine, although it almost looked like he had a slight limp and a few bruises. But he was alive... And he was standing right there...

Tears immediately formed in her eyes at this. She felt her lower lip quivering and she took in a shaky breath, sniffling a few times. A part of her couldn’t help but wonder if she was dreaming, if this was all just something she was going to wake up from. Feeling her legs wobbling a little, she forced herself to walk forward, stumbling around a little, as she approached her son.

Once she got to him, she reached out and reached her shaking hand out. Rudy stared at her, his own eyes wide with disbelief, as though he didn’t know if this was real, either. Mrs. Tabootie soon put her hand on Rudy’s cheek, more tears dropping from her face. She gave him a shaky smile as she slowly realized that this was indeed real. Rudy... He was.... Without warning, she pulled him into a hug, refusing to let go.

Mrs. Tabootie wasn’t aware of anything else going on in the room for the next several moments. She still didn’t notice where the others had gone and she could only just barely hear any foot steps around her. For the time being, her attention was fully on Rudy. She continued to hug him, feel him, wanting to be constantly reassured that he really was there, that he really had been rescued, that...

Mrs. Tabootie shut her eyes shut tightly, feeling a stream of tears moving down her face. She still couldn’t believe that this had happened. She couldn’t believe that, after all of this time, they had truly... She let out a few small sniffles as she kept Rudy close to her body, trembling hard, whispering soft words of comfort to him.

Rudy didn’t react as much. This did puzzle the large woman. Last time he was rescued, he clung to her more tightly and he sounded more desperate. But now he was just mostly still and anything he shown back to her didn’t seem to have as much enthusiam. Normally she could be more concerned about this, but for now, she was just too relieved to really notice.

At long last, she finally pulled away, her hands on his shoulders, staring at him intently. Rudy looked back at her, and she could see how much of that shine he had lost from his eyes. What stood before her was a broken child, and it made her shudder just to think of what he could have been put through. She caressed his face gently and leaned in, planting a kiss on his forehead, an attempt to comfort him. She moved back and continuously caressed his cheek up and down. She rubbed her thumb underneath his eyes, feeling a bit of his tears crawling along her skin.

She was finally jolted back into reality, back into realizing that there were more things going on than just her and Rudy. She could feel someone moving in from behind her. Mrs. Tabootie looked to the side and she could see that her husband had arrived over. How long had it been? How much time had passed? She didn’t know, but that didn’t matter as her husband moved in, pulling her into a hug with one hand, and then Rudy another. The family of three just stood there, embraced in each other’s arms, crying softly. They silently reflected on what happened, and how long it had been since they were a whole family once again.

Mrs. Tabootie heard some sniffling off to the side. She turned her head and she could see Mrs. Sanchez with her arms wrapped around Penny firmly. She didn’t watch for very long, but it was plainly obvious how much emotion was being displayed here. Mrs. Sanchez was a more obvious emotional wreck, her whole body shaking violently as she held Penny close to herself. Penny was whispering softly, trying to comfort her mother. It seemed to be working to some extent, but it was clear that Mrs. Sanchez was still torn up inside and it would take a while to recover. Mrs. Tabootie looked at her and her daughter with a sympathetic glance before looking back down at her own child.

There was no way to sugarcoat this situation. It was going to take them all a while to recover. Their children, for being held captive, and her and the other parents, for having to suffer the loss of their children for an extended period of time. She dare not try to put her suffering above Mrs. Sanchez’s even though her child was gone for longer. They were all parents here and their grieving was equal.

It took a little while before Mrs. Tabootie remembered that their children hadn’t been the only people who walked into the hallway. There had been two other ones. And unlike these children, their appearance didn’t exactly suit her all that well.

Mrs. Tabootie could feel her mind burning as she noticed Vinnie and Terry standing not far. The sight of them, well mostly Terry, was enough to nearly unleash a barrage of dark flashbacks, awakening more anger inside of her than she thought existed. She trembled harder and she struggled to control herself, though seemed to be failing at this. She ground her teeth together and she felt her stomach twisting up inside. She tried so hard not to vomit as she let out a low growl at the two adults.

They were going to explain themselves to them, even if she had to threaten to rip out their eyes to do it. Once they told them everything, they would inform the police and these two will be locked up. For their sake, she wondered how good their defense will be. But it didn’t take a genius to know that they will suffer harsh punishment.

And she looked forward to it.

sss

“Terry Bouffant and Vinnie Raton, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law..”

It felt so strange. He wasn’t really sure what to think of it. His mind was still spinning, still trying to think of all that had happened. He didn’t understand why he felt this why. Why did this stomach sting so much? Why wasn’t he happy about this?

Rudy had yearned to reunite with his parents. He had missed them so badly. He longed for them day and night, even after he grew comfortable around Terry and Vinnie. Before them, he wanted to see them locked up, and to some degree, perhaps he always felt that way even after. Especially after he learned that his friends were right. Those two had just been using him.

So why did he still feel odd about this? Why couldn’t he feel happy as he watched Vinnie and Terry being dragged off? Why couldn’t he smirk at them, feel any sort of glee at them finally getting caught?

Perhaps the situation was far more complicated than he thought it was. Perhaps he really had grown attached to them to a greater degree than he had anticipated. Even though he felt disturbed, disgusted with himself for having trusted them at all... There was still a part of him that still felt as though he....cared about them to some degree.

He thought back to what Terry had told him before, when they were still in the Chalk Mine. Something about how things had gotten more complicated than any of them thought, and how she was starting to think that acting out on her anger by attacking him was better than what she had gone with.

Perhaps she had been right. It was through that convaluted plan that all of this happened. It was because of her plan that they were all getting confused, mixed signals racing through their bodies. Neither of them could get anything done efficiently. It had corrupted their ability to operate.

If they had been genuine...

Rudy let out a sigh as he leaned against his mother. He tried to forget what had happened as he felt her gently caress him. He closed his eyes and tried to pretend that none of this had ever happened. Perhaps if he pretended hard enough, he would start to forget. Maybe if he continued to act like none of this ever happened, he would return to his normal self. Then it would be like some kind of a bad dream.

But he knew how incorrect this was going to be. Penny was lucky that she hadn’t been held for months. He... He knew that he wasn’t going to recover that fast. In fact, he wondered if he would be permanently changed from this. Could he even show his face in ChalkZone again after this?

Rudy tried not to let the thought bother him too much. He knew that he should try to focus more on the accomplishments he had managed to achieve. He had finally gotten reunited with his family. Tilly and Sophie were going to be over soon to visit him; his aunt had made a declaration to come over as soon as she heard Rudy was found. Rudy did look forward to seeing them.

And Terry and Vinnie were finally getting what they deserved. Getting locked up for all that they’ve....done...

Rudy’s mind trailed off as those emotions returned with a vengeance. He tried to shake it off, but it seemed impossible. He couldn’t shake off the fact that part of him wasn’t happy about this. A part of him didn’t want this to happen. But even if he were try to speak out against it, no words would flow from his mouth.

“It’s going to be all right, Penita...” Mrs. Sanchez’s voice caught Rudy’s attention. He turned his head and he watched as Mrs. Sanchez held her daughter close, rubbing her hand up and down the girl’s back. “They won’t be getting out for a long time.”

Penny held onto her mother’s arm and leaned in closer. Her eyes did little to hide all the emotions swelling up inside of her. “Are you sure, mama? She... Terry got out before and...”

Mrs. Sanchez gave her daughter a reassuring smile. “They will be put in a more secure prison this time. However Terry managed to escape from the other one, she won’t be able to do it again. I promise.”

Penny looked up at her mother with uncertainty. “You sure?”

The thin woman nodded her head once. “Yes, I’m sure. Now don’t worry about it, Penita.” Mrs. Sanchez leaned in and gave a small kiss to Penny’s forehead. “Come on, let’s go home. We should...give the Tabooties some time alone. And you and I need to talk as well.”

Rudy was disappointed when he saw his friend start to walk away. But he knew that Mrs. Sanchez was right. They all needed their private time together alone, as their own families, first and foremost. They needed to speak to each other, fully process what the heck had been going on. They needed time to recover together....then later, they could come back to see each other and help one another heal further.

And then...

Rudy stopped abruptly when he noticed one of the policemen walking over, Terry in tow. Seeing the woman coming closer caused an immediate reaction with Rudy and his family.

He had never felt his parents’ anger like this, nor did he expect such intensity so fast. He didn’t even try to look at them; he could feel their anger burning through his body as the red-haired woman dared to get closer. Rudy on the other hand, well, he had a bit of a different reaction.

More like a mixed one. He could feel himself swell up inside with conflicting emotions. One that wanted him to run away....and the other that wanted to just latch onto Terry. He never felt so simultaneously afraid and longing of that woman. She had kidnapped him, forced him to do her bidding...and yet at the same time, she had also took care of him, even if it was part of some grand plan that he nearly fell for. His head began to hurt from this and he tried so hard to fight it off.

But that didn’t seem likely. When Terry and the cop stopped in front of his parents and himself, the feelings just got stronger. It was so bad that he had to force himself to look away to avoid staring into Terry’s eyes, a part of him terrified that he might fall back under her spell if he did.

And yet a part of him almost longed for that....

His thoughts were cut off as his parents broke the uneasy silence.

“What is she doing here....?” Mrs. Tabootie hissed.

The officer tipped his head in a silent apology. “Sorry to disturb you, but this woman claims that she wants to tell you something.”

Mrs. Tabootie glared directly at Terry. “Whatever it is you have to say, just forget about it. We don’t need to hear any of your tra...” She stopped when Mr. Tabootie put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him in confusion, while he stared intently at Terry.

“Make it quick.” Mr. Tabootie spoke. He did not hide his disdain for the woman, evident by his venomy voice. “We don’t want to waste any time...”

Rudy forced himself to look at Terry just as she gulped nervously. He immediately felt a shudder going up and down his spine as he felt her staring at him. He shook his head and forced himself to frown at her, a desperate attempt to ensure that he didn’t get drawn in by her spell any longer.

Terry flinched at this, and she soon wore an unreadable expression on her face. Rudy had no idea what it meant or what she had planned. All that he could tell is that, just like him, it would seem that Terry had mixed feelings on this issue as well. He nearly chuckled bitterly at this realization. Perhaps the two of them weren’t so different after all.

“Well I...” Terry began to speak. She stopped herself, biting her lip firmly.

“Well? What is it, you foul woman?!” Mrs. Tabootie hissed, looking ready to charge her like she did when she found Rudy on the ground about to be punched by Terry.

The red-haired woman flinched and took a step back, raising up her hands in self defense. Before she could speak, the cop raised a hand up. “That’s enough, miss. Let her speak.”

Mrs. Tabootie growled, but soon relented and nodded her head curtly to Terry.

It seemed to take ages for Terry to try to speak up again. It was hard to say if it was because she had forgotten what she wanted to say, if she had nothing to say at all, or if she were too scared by Mrs. Tabootie to say much of anything. Rudy guessed it was most likely his mom. If the cops hadn’t arrived, he had no doubt that his mom would have pummeled Terry into the ground.

Eventually, Terry did finally speak. She looked at Rudy almost sadly for a moment before turning to look at his parents. Her voice cracked slightly as she said, “...take your kid to the hospital. He...suffered a heart attack earlier.”

Rudy’s eyes immediately flew open at this, a wave of shock rushing through his body. He had what...?

His parents’ reactions were no less shocked.

“What the fuck do you mean he...”

“What did you do to him?!”

Terry didn’t say another word. She looked at the shocked family with an expression that was slightly sympathetic and almost worrying. Then she hung her head in what appeared to be guilt as the officer began to guide her away from the confused and horrified family. Any further attempts to get information utterly failed at this point.

Rudy could feel his heart pounding a little harder in his chest. It was then he noticed the pain and he clutched his hand to it. His eyes widened as he felt tears moving down his face. He could feel his parents holding onto him, but their shouts of confusion were too distorted for him to understand. Everything was blurred and moved fast. It took a while before he could even began to bring himself back to reality.

So..that was why he had been in pain earlier...

Rudy leaned against his mom, pressing himself deeper in her embrace, as he tried to settle down, his body shaking. He watched as his dad walked forward, holding out his hand and shouting for the cop to bring back Terry for an explanation.

But while he did eventually get some cop to approach, it was not for the reason that he had called out for.

“Hey, are you Mr. Tabootie?” The cop asked.

Mr. Tabootie froze at this, looking a little startled and confused by the swift approach of this man. But nonetheless, he still answered, “Y-Yes... And that’s my wife..” He motioned to Mrs. Tabootie, who still held onto Rudy. “I need to speak to Ms. Bouffant, sir.”

“I’m afraid you won’t be doing that.” The cop said firmly.

Mr. Tabootie widened his eyes a little. “Wh-Why not, sir? I-Is something wrong?”

The cop pulled out some kind of small notepad. He flipped through it until he reached a few pages down. He cleared his throat and said, “It is my understanding that one of the residents here had filed a report against you. He claims that your wife threatened him and he informed the lodge administration, who confirmed to me that you and your accomplices had tresspassed here.”

The Tabooties, Rudy included, just stared at the cop in horror. Over in the distance, they were suddenly aware of another cop apprehanding Mrs. Sanchez.

“B-But..” Mr. Tabootie stammered. “We had to...”

Rudy had no idea what was going on. And that made the situation all the more terrifying. He could feel himself breathing in and out quickly as his quickening mind tried to make sense of it all. Just what had his parents done...? He looked over at his mom, seeing how horrified she looked. He managed to squeak out, “M-Mom...? Wh-What’s going on...?”

But his mom remained silent. She just stared ahead blankly as her husband was being cuffed. She looked like she wanted to speak, but she could only remain silent.

Mr. Tabootie grunted as the cuffs locked into place. “You’re making a huge mistake!”

The cop shook his head. “I’m sorry, but the law is the law.”

“We were searching for our child!” Mr. Tabootie shouted.

“Did you file him missing?”

“Yes!”

“Then you should have left it up to the experts.”

“But they found nothing!”

“That doesn’t put you above the law. If you want to set an example for your child...”

“Officer!” Mr. Tabootie shouted, cutting off the cop before he could continue. “Please... Can’t we talk this out?”

The cop narrowed his eyes. Though he nodded, he did nothing to release the panicking father. “You can do that when it’s your time to talk in court. The same goes for your wife and friend.”

“Wait, please!” Mrs. Tabootie shouted. “Th-There must be another way!”

The cop shook his head slowly. “I’m afraid there isn’t. Now come along with me. You all have a long time ahead of you.”

Mr. Tabootie tried to resist being taken away. Rudy watched in shocked silence as his father tried to fight back, only for more cops to come over to help restrain him. Despite that, Mr. Tabootie didn’t give up. “You can’t do this! What about the children?! Where will they...”

The cop intervened, “Your children will be taken and placed in a temporary home until we learn what the prosecution has to say.”

“That isn’t fair! Please, they’ve been through enough!” Mrs. Tabootie cried, a few tears rolling down her face. “Please stop this...!”

The cop turned and glared at Mrs. Tabootie. “If you all didn’t want this to happen, then you shouldn’t have tresspassed here.”

Mrs. Tabootie whimpered, “I-I...”

That was all that she was able to say. Before anyone could say anything else, more cops arrived. Mr. Tabootie was dragged off and more surrounded Rudy and his mother. Though Rudy clung to his mom, he knew that it wouldn’t last. He could already feel one of the cops prying him away from her. All Rudy was able to do was just watch with teary eyes as his mom, his dad, and Penny’s mom were taken to a cop car similar to the one that Terry and Vinnie were forced into.

sss

“Rudy, you can’t blame yourself for what happened.”

“Yeah, listen to your friend, sweetie. None of us could have seen this coming. It is not your fault. There’s nothing that you could have done.”

Rudy looked away, his eyes shut, tears forming. “I could have fought harder. I could have...tried to get the policemen to let my parents go... Let your mom go... But I failed. I’m the worst....”

Penny grabbed onto Rudy’s shoulders and shook him, her eyes wide and staring at him in desperation. “Please stop it Rudy! Y-You couldn’t have... There’s nothing you could have said to make them change their minds...” Penny could feel herself growing weak, but she struggled to keep herself strong. “They would have taken them away no matter what you did.”

Rudy trembled as he tried to glare at her. Penny could see right through his weak expression. “You don’t know that! I-I could have... There must have been something that I...”

Tilly interrupted him, her arms still holding Sophie against herself. “Rudy, your parents disobeyed a direct order. They broke the law, and they have to pay for it.”

Rudy shook his head. “No, they...”

“I know they were just trying to help you and Penny. I can’t blame them, especially given the lackluster attempt for the authorities to find you. But in the end, they still broke a law and they can’t get around that. That’s just the way it has to be.” Tilly spoke softly. Her voice tried to sound authoritive and yet comforting at the same time. Penny couldn’t tell if it was succeeding. “Besides, I’m sure that they won’t get a harsh punishment. They...might get off a little easy, actually.”

Penny could tell that her mom was trying to be optimistic. But the two of them knew that things could be more serious than that. If Mrs. Tabootie really had threatened that man, then the charges might be harsher. But she knew better than to speak up about that and she tried her best to smile at Rudy, trying to cheer him up.

“Y-Yeah... They’ll be let out soon. And everything will be just fine.” Penny reached out and put a hand on Rudy’s shoulder, smiling the best that she could. “You’ll see. There’s no need to worry.” Penny flinched at how her voice cracked at that statement. But she still struggled to keep forth, trying to sound as brave as she could. After all, her mom was involved in this, too. “Let’s...try not to let this get to us, okay?”

She wasn’t really surprised when Rudy just lowered his head and turned away from her. Penny released a small, tired sigh at this, lowering her head to one side herself. This was a tough situation that none of them had expected to get into, and she knew that there was no easy way out of this. Despite her attempts to be positive, she could feel herself being bogged down.

At least the police were nice enough to let her and Rudy stay with Rudy’s aunt Tilly. At least they could stay with someone that they knew and trusted while they waited this out. Tilly was nice enough to set up a bed for her and Rudy to sleep in. It did feel a little strange sharing a bed with someone after years of having her own, but cuddling with Rudy was a good way of helping them both start to heal from what had happened.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to bring over a chalkboard large enough so they couldn’t exactly go into ChalkZone. But at night, they were able to at least speak with Snap for a bit to let him know that they were okay and to give him an update. Snap was worried about them of course, but they were never able to talk long. Penny hoped to head into ChalkZone as soon as possible. She imagined it won’t be for a while, though. She had no clue how long it would take to get things straightened out with their parents.

At least Snap was able to inform them of Rapsheeba’s progress. She had been taken to a therapist to help her cope with what was done to her. It would seem that, after they left after Rudy decided it was best for the Real World cops to handle Vinnie and Terry, Rapsheeba suffered a severe breakdown. Snap was able to calm her down, but Biclops recommended she see someone, which she did thankfully.

So far, the sessions seem to be working, but it’s only been a couple of days. It might be a while before they see any improvement. But at least she had a chance to recover. At least, so long as she followed through consistantly, things should be fine. She didn’t expect Rapsheeba to just ‘get over it’, but she did hope that she would start to feel better soon.

This caused Penny to frown as she stared at Rudy. He had denied wanting to see a therapist. He thought that it made him look....well not weak, but whiny she supposed. He believed that he would be fine on his own, that he would recover now that he wasn’t anywhere near Terry and Vinnie.

But Penny had other ideas. She may not know the full scope of what happened to him. She may never know all that those two fiends had done to him. But she did know that Rudy needed someone to talk to. He had been through so much and he wasn’t going to recover just like that, with a snap of a finger. He needed to talk to someone about what happened, so he can get a better grasp on what happened to him. And only then, by forcing him into this realization, could he have any hope of starting a recovery.

But she also knew that she couldn’t force Rudy into it. It was up to the boy to decide whether or not he wanted to do this. If he were forced, then it wasn’t going to work. If anything, it could easily make things a lot worse. As frustrated as she was, she would have to wait and hope that Rudy came to his senses.

In the meantime...

“Hey, Sophie...” Penny turned and smiled to the little child, who giggled and held out her hands, signalling that she wanted to be picked up. “Do you want to play a game with us?”

“Play! Play!” Sophie cried out, a smile stretching along her face.

Tilly gave a small giggle. “All right, Sophie.” She lowered Sophie to the ground. The small child immediately rushed over towards Penny. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Penny stared at Tilly for a second before smiling and nodding her head. “Sure, the more the merrier!” Penny looked over her shoulder and stared at where Rudy was. “Hey, come and join us, Rudy!”

The boy just sat there. He barely turned his head enough to look over at Penny. “....why...?” He grumbled softly, obviously still affected by what happened. Understandable, but Penny hoped that this could help cheer him up.

“It’ll help take your mind off of things...” Penny furrowed her eyes very slightly, but still did her best to smile. “Come on, you’ll enjoy it. I promise.”

Rudy stared at Penny, looking really uncertain at first. But soon the small boy walked over and sat down with the group. Penny had no idea what game they were going to play. But she would think of something. She hoped that it would help allievate the tension that was building up. They all needed a break after what happened.

“Let’s play...”

sss

Rudy let out a series of small whimpers. He tossed and he turned in the bed, sweat moving down his face. He tried to keep himself still and quiet, but as this teeth clenched tightly harder, he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to hold on much longer. With a cold sensation rushing through his chest, he bolted upwards in the bed and released a loud scream.

He immediately stopped as he realized that what he had experienced was just a dream. But it had felt so real.... Rudy rubbed his head as his eyes shifted left and right. He looked down at his hands as he tried to get a grasp on his reality. He could see the glistening sweat moving down his hands and staining the bed. He took in a few shaky breaths as he took another moment to look around him and realize that he was in a bedroom.

Tilly’s guest bedroom.

He wasn’t in...

It was still taking him a while to adjust to not waking up in a log cabin. He had gotten so used to that. He kept thinking that when he opened up his eyes, he was going to see himself in that large living room with the television on the couch next to Terry and...

He felt his heart clench tightly at the memory. He still hadn’t gotten quite over his interactions with that woman. He still didn’t know exactly what to think or feel about it. A part of him wanted to just forget about her and move on. But there was still a part of him clinging to her. He kept trying to tell himself to just forget about her and move on. But for some reason, that only made his memories of her stronger.

Perhaps... Perhaps things weren’t exactly what they seemed. Terry did seem as though she were regretful of her actions. And she was the one who informed his parents about his heart attack. That helped him get the aid that he required. Thankfully it wasn’t that bad. If she truly didn’t care about him, why did she help at all?

Well she might have only done it so that she could get to him later... But that didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. What would she benefit from that given that she and Vinnie were both going to jail without any magic chalk? How in the world would she get him back? It just didn’t make any sense.

“Rudy....?”

Rudy whipped his head over, nearly jumping at that sudden call out to him. When he saw that it was only Penny, he did attempt to relax a little bit, putting his hand to his chest. But he still wasn’t able to settle down completely and he could feel his heart racing inside of his chest.

“Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...” Penny started to say when she appeared to notice how startled Rudy was.

The boy licked his lips once as he forced himself to smile. “Hey it’s all right. I’m fine.” Rudy lowered his head and shut his eyes and gritted his teeth as he tried to force the uncomfortable sensations away from himself. He shook his head once before turning to look back at Penny and smile at her. “You didn’t upset me that much, really. I was just... It’s my fault, really.”

Penny raised an eyebrow at him, as though she didn’t fully believe him. But at least she didn’t press that particular issue too much, which Rudy was grateful for. After what he had to endure in his sleep, trying to talk about this would have just stressed him out further.

But she wasn’t exactly done talking yet. Her attention shifted to something else. “You’re thinking about them....aren’t you?”

Rudy felt a brief cold rush in his body. He stared at Penny long and hard. He soon shook his head, raising up his shoulders. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Rudy said, trying to sound believable. “Everything is just...”

“Rudy....” Penny folded her arms against her chest. “I know when you’re lying. I would appreciate it if you didn’t do that.”

Rudy opened his mouth to speak, only to stop himself and look away. He sighed as he realized Penny would see through anything that he tried to say. He couldn’t just make up something and hope that she would believe it. Penny would more than likely call him out on it. His best bet was to just....accept that she couldn’t be tricked and to just tell her what she wanted to know.

But how was he going to answer that? He didn’t feel that comfortable talking about Vinnie and Terry with Penny lately. He wasn’t as opposed before, but that was when they were on the exact same page on them together. But given what he had experienced, his view was....altered. It had become confusing and he was caught between agreeing with her and feeling as though he should correct her on something. He wondered how long this feeling would last before he would stop feeling so conflicted.

“It’s all right, Rudy. You....don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Penny’s voice was calm and gentle, a nice contrast to her more determined voice just a moment ago. She looked away to the side, biting into her lip firmly. “I just... I wish that you would... I don’t know.” Penny struggled to speak, frustration apparent on her voice. “It’s been a rough time for all of us. I shouldn’t expect you to just flip everything on a dime.”

Rudy looked at her with a somewhat confused expression for several moments as he tried to think of something to say. He was a bit surprised Penny was this confused; he would have thought that she had things more figured out. She wasn’t put under a spell for a month like he had been. In a way, Rudy was almost...jealous of her. But he did his best to keep his mouth shut on that.

“I just want you to know... If you have anything you want to tell me...” Penny tried her best to smile at Rudy. It was apparent that the smile was fake, but she still tried anyway. “I’m here for you.” She reached over and she placed her hand on Rudy’s arm, gently patting it. “Just let me know and I’m all ears. Do you understand?”

Rudy felt himself nodding riggidly at this, but he was still at a loss of what to do. He did feel more comfortable knowing that Penny would be willing to speak with him. Yet at the same time, he just wasn’t sure how to go about it. It wasn’t just Vinnie and Terry and he was certain that Penny knew this. He hardly felt any less stressed than the first day Tilly had taken them in. He thought it would have gotten easier, but instead it got harder. So much harder than he twould have thought...

But still... He did like the idea of speaking to his friend. He did feel as though he could tell her more things than Tilly, especially when the situation of ChalkZone came into play. And while there were some details he wasn’t sure of, he did at least trust that Penny would have some understanding and not be so quick to...

He gulped, trying to set that aside. Memories suddenly flooded back about how Terry had tried to make him lose his friendship with Penny and Snap. She threatened to reveal information about Penny that would ‘ruin her life’ and pin the blame on Rudy, and with Snap, she tried to force him to kidnap him against his will. Such memories resparked his anger and made him wonder why he even bothered to start caring about her.

...but here he was and there wasn’t anything that he could do to change this face. He couldn’t keep quiet about it any longer. He needed to say something. So he took up Penny’s offer.

“Yeah, I... I did have a dream about....” Rudy started to say. He quickly stopped himself as he licked his lip slowly, nervously. “I try not to think about it. But it’s just so vivid. And I am so confused. I never felt so conflicted before...”

Penny looked at him sympathetically. “You were stuck with them for a while. You were bound to....develop something, even if they weren’t that nice with you. It’s...biological.” Penny pointed to hear head. “As a species, we are prone to be compliant if it meant living.”

Rudy frowned at this. “So I still would have been a freak if...”

“Oh no, no! Not at all! Rudy, you have nothing to be ashamed of!” Penny waved her hands in desperation, her eyes widened in shock. “It would have happened to almost anyone! It’s not your fault. Please...” Penny’s voice softened up a little as she tried to sound more reassuring. “Just understand that sometimes our brains act in ways we don’t want them to. And sometimes, that is for the best.”

Rudy cocked an eyebrow. “Why do I find that hard to believe?” He let out a ‘heh’ sound as he turned his head away, staring out into the distance. “My brain is trying to make me sympathetize with a vile woman. And I hate it.”

Penny reached over and once more put her hand on Rudy. He didn’t bother looking at her, although he did turn his head just a tad as she started to speak again. “You had been caught by her in a vulnerable moment. You were trapped with them with no way of contacting me or Snap or your parents. Nobody... And you had a broken leg, too.... If you hadn’t done what they told you, what would have stopped Terry from trying to hurt you again? She already tried to kill you...”

Rudy immediately flinched at this. He put his hand to his chest as he imagined the bullet shooting right through him. He remembered the pain and his eyes widened at the panic and phantom pain.

Penny put her hand to her mouth and gasped in horror. “Oh Rudy, I’m so sorry! I-I didn’t mean to...” She reached her hand out towards the shivering boy. “Please, it’s all right. Th-There’s no danger... You’re safe...”

The young boy took in a few deep breaths as he struggled to settle himself down. It took a little while and his mind spun a few more times before he slowly, but surely, managed to calm himself down to some degree. His heart still pounded, still raced. But despite the continuous dull ache, he did start to feel a little bit better.

As a reminder, he still looked around to make sure of where he was. He felt some sense of relief when he saw for certain that he was in one of Tilly’s rooms, and Terry was nowhere in sight. He was relieved that he was not back in that courtroom, the gun pointed at him, the bullet shooting through his body...

Rudy let out a small yelp and leaned forward, his mouth opening wider as a brief flash of fear and adrenaline shot through his body. He could feel Penny rubbing his back carefully as this short-lived panic attack went through its course completely. Slowly he looked over at Penny. His vision was blurred for a moment, but soon he could see Penny coming into view. He forced himself to smile a bit at Penny.

“Th-Thank you... I didn’t mean to...” Rudy spoke in a soft, trembling voice. “I-I...”

“It’s okay, Rudy. It’s all right. I understand.” Penny cooed at him gently.

“I...I still don’t know.. why I would have... Penny, Terry tried to kill me... Why the fuck would I...” Rudy’s voice trailed off for a moment as he bit his lip a bit harder, nearly drawing blood. “Why would I even want to...” He shut his eyes tightly. “Why do I feel so differently about her...?”

“Maybe because you saw a side of her and Vinnie you didn’t before... And you realized they’re just as human as you and me.”

Rudy froze at this statement. He lifted his head and stared at Penny in utter shock as he struggled to grasp her words.

Penny noted his confusion. She furrowed her eyes slightly as she said, “Now I’m not saying they didn’t deserve to be locked up. But... It is sometimes harder to view someone as just a monster if you’ve seen their more vulnerable side.”

Slowly looking at the ground, Rudy said, “....yeah I suppose so.. I guess it would make sense.”

Penny nodded her head once. “You did say that Terry hugged you and cried when you were in the cave, right?”

“Yeah... I’m still confused by that.” Rudy admitted.

Penny looked at him symapthetically. “Yeah I can understand why it’s confusing. And I do believe that is why you have a hard time letting go of this, even after knowing the truth. You’ve seen Terry show....what very well may be, genuine regret. You’ve seen that, in spite of the awful things she did, she is still a flawed person like you and me. And Rudy...” Penny moved in a little closer, staring straight at Rudy. “..it is possible that she, too, had started to see, in that moment, that you were more than just ‘the little brat who kept getting in her way.”

Rudy had no idea what to say to that. He honestly didn’t expect things to turn this...philosophical. He hadn’t really thought about things this way. But as he let it settle down in his head, it did seem to start opening up doors inside of his head. Perhaps if this continued, it would help bring some new understanding to him of the situation. And perhaps then, he could start feeling better.

“Penny, I... I’m not sure what to say... I..”

“You don’t have to. Why don’t we go to sleep and we can discuss this more in the morning? You look tired.”

Rudy realized that Penny was right. He could feel that burning tiredness clawing in the back of his eyes. It was becoming harder to keep his eyes open. Perhaps the emotion that he felt was heavier than he had imagined. “Alright.... Goodnight, Penny.”

“Goodnight, Rudy..”

The two children closed their eyes and went back to sleep.

sss

Well, today was the day, wasn’t it? If memory served him right, this should be the day that he and Penny learned what was to become of their parents. He had no idea why it should have taken days for this. Perhaps there was so much controversy given the circumstances that they couldn’t just give out a sentence overnight? It was hard to say, and while Rudy was still nervous, he was still glad that it was finally going to be over.

...or at least, he hoped. He wanted to believe that the cops would have some incentive of letting their parents go given that they were only trying to find them. But he also knew how the law could be, and it wasn’t always fair. Rudy shuddered to think of that possibility, but he tried to remain hopeful.

Penny looked as though she was doing a little better than him. She looked a bit nervous, but she was holding it together really well. Rudy had to admire her for that. Even under pressure, she tried to stay cool.

He had to wonder if that was why she was able to stay sane while being held captive by Vinnie and Terry. Thinking of that reminded Rudy of how it was his fault in the first place that she was stuck there at all. He felt his gut twisting up inside. If he hadn’t been so stupid, if he hadn’t been so startled, he would have been able to keep Penny from getting captured in the first place. Same thing went for Snap.

He had vented to Penny earlier about that. Her and Snap, before they left with Tilly and Sophie in the car. He had let them know how sorry he was for how he had acted, how he had hurt them and dragged them away. He was surprised that they forgave him so easily. He had thought that they would have made him move mountains just to get their forgiveness. He wasn’t entirely sure what to think about this. He was caught between relief and confusion.

But he tried not to let it get to him too much. His friends had reassured him multiple times, and even Rapsheeba seemed to have forgiven him for his behavior. And Biclops didn’t seem too upset. He appeared to understand that he was just not himself, in a way mind-controlled by Vinnie and Terry, who had wanted him to help them expose ChalkZone. It wasn’t his fault that they had nearly succeeded.

Rudy gritted his teeth as he thought of those two. They had been locked up in a high security prison, and as Penny told him, they had no magic chalk. They would be unable to try to free themselves like last time. He didn’t need to worry about them anymore.

A part of him still felt some sympathy towards them. Penny assured him that was normal, and that they all been through a lot. That did make a lot of sense. And if Terry really did start to see him differently because of her own plan... Well, maybe he didn’t have anything to worry about.

He let out a yelp as the car suddenly turned to the side, breaking him out of his thoughts. Rudy rammed up against Penny, causing her to yelp. He shook his head as he got off of her, quickly apologizing. Penny didn’t seem too upset, although her attention was diverted to Tilly, who had suddenly gotten out of the car. Rudy and Penny looked on in confusion at first, until they realized....

“We’re here.” Tilly appeared at the side door, reaching over to open it up. “Come along with me. I don’t want you two to be alone. Not after....” She immediately clammed up. They all knew what she was talking about. “Well let’s get going...” She whispered as she turned and made her way towards the building.

Rudy could feel several emotions rushing through him as he stared at the building before him. It was not that big and he and Penny had been in here before. They were taken here by Vinnie’s brother when they first ran into the creep, before he had become a threat to ChalkZone. But now that they were approaching it now, given the situation, it suddenly felt so much bigger and so much more threatening.

And this time, they were approaching it with a more grave situation on their hands than just them trespassing on a construction site.

With their hearts pumping, minds growing heavy from many thoughts, the two children reluctantly followed Tilly, who carried Sophie in her arm, into the building. Just the mere act of going inside was enough to make them stiffen up, but they pushed through anyway. They then headed towards the front desk.

When they arrived, Tilly leaned in towards the desk and tapped her hand against the little bell. This was enough to get one of the officer’s attention. A familiar officer, the same one who had dealt with Rudy and Penny before, came forward, adjusting his cap a little.

“I’m coming, I’m coming...” The man muttered. He sounded a little tired. When he arrived at the front, he said, “May I help you?”

“Yes, I need to ask some questions.” Tilly stated. “Is that all right with you?”

The cop slowly nodded his head. “Sure, ma’am.”

“Okay, thank you. Eh..can you excuse me for just a moment?” Tilly turned herself to the side, lowering Sophie to towards Rudy, who immediately grabbed onto her. “Hey, take Tilly and sit over there, will you?” Tilly motioned towards the kid corner where there were some toys to play with. “I’ll be just a moment.”

“Sure, Aunt Tilly.” Said Rudy as he struggled to keep the squirming Sophie in his arms. He and Penny headed towards the corner. He was a bit disappointed that he couldn’t be with his aunt, but he wasn’t going to complain. She would tell him the outcome anyway, right?

But questions still roamed around inside of his head. He still couldn’t help but constantly ask himself different things as he sat down with his friend and little cousin. He just couldn’t relax. There was too much going on. He wetted his lips nervously and tried to relax, hoping that, in the end, it would all work out and that he was getting upset for no reason.

“I...I’m worried...” Rudy whispered softly. He bit his lip as he stood in the corner with Sophie. “I don’t know...”

Penny looked over at him sympathetically. “I know, Rudy. But... There isn’t really much that we can do.” She reached over and put her hand on Rudy’s shoulder. “But let’s try not to think about it. Your aunt will handle things. Let’s just...take a moment and relax a little, okay?”

Rudy didn’t really answer verbally, but he did silently agree with her. They didn’t need to keep thinking about this stuff. They could take a break and just...be kids. That was something that they hadn’t been able to do too well or too often for a while.

And so he and Penny tried to divert their attention away from the situation via something more cheerful and welcoming in the form of the child games present here. It was a welcome strategy to help keep their minds from going too insane. There were enough games here to keep them preoccupied for a while. Although most of the stuff here were for really young children, Sophie did enjoy them and it gave Rudy and Penny something to do. So they spent their time playing with Sophie, her little laughter almost enough to lift up their spirits completely.

It was amazing how the simple joys in life like watching a small child laugh and have fun could help offset the harshness that reality sometimes would bring. It was certainly doing wonders for Rudy and Penny as their minds shifted more and more to the games that they were playing with Sophie. It was such a big distraction that they had almost forgotten where they were or why they had been here in the first place.

They just continued to cheer Sophie on, encouraging her to continue with the current puzzle. They were trying their best not to allow themselves to give into the temptation of outright telling her what the answer was. They instead tried to encourage her to figure it for herself. And when she would get it, they would cheer her and hug her and she would get so excited. The sight of this easily brought a broad smile to the two elder children’s faces.

It wasn’t until Tilly started to walk over towards them, her eyes furrowed with concern, her hands rubbing against each other, that the two of them stopped their games, much to Sophie’s confusion. The woman didn’t even need to say a word in order to grab and keep their attention, her eyes shining with sympathy and something else. It caused a sick worry to fill up inside the children’s stomachs.

“Well, I just got done talking to them...” Tilly whispered softly. Her voice didn’t really convey any strong feeling in either direction. Maybe it wasn’t so bad? But those eyes.... “They’ve already come to a decision regarding your parents.”

Rudy and Penny could feel their hearts tightening up at this. Of course, Sophie hardly reacted outside of asking them to play with her more. But the two older kids could no longer pay attention to her; they were fully enthralled in whatever Tilly had to say. They both understood that whatever she had to say would play a huge role in whatever would happen next. Although a part of them wanted to hear these words, another part of them dreaded what was about to come.

The wait for an answer was excruciatingly long and Rudy could feel his heart skipping a few beats. He could feel his mind spinning as he waited to hear the news that Tilly had brought over to them. He was at a loss of what to think, unsure if he wanted to hear it now or later. His body shuddered in confusion, going rigid as he tried to think of what would be better. And all the while, only a few slow ticking seconds had passed.

This was it. They were finally going to know what was to become of their parents. He and Penny exchanged nervous expressions. They didn’t know what to say to one another; they could only just remain silent and hoped and prayed that Tilly had brought them good news. They felt a tingling sensation rush through them as they eagerly awaited to see how much their lives would change...or little they would change. Maybe things would go back to normal and they could be able to live out their lives like usual.

But a small part of Rudy was skeptical about this. He knew first hand just how much life could change on a whim. He wasn’t going to let himself get too carried away this time.

And so he was the one to break the silence. “Wh-What did they say...?”

Tilly stared at them long and hard. Her expression did not change much. Rudy and Penny couldn’t tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing. They huddled closer to gether as they prepared themselves for what answer she was going to give them.

“Well, the authorities have decided that....”

sss

She hated it here. A part of her wished she had never.... Now because of her stupidity, she was stuck in here. A worse cell than she had before. At least the other one gave her some form of freedom. But this cell was monitored twenty-four seven. There wasn’t a single topic that she could talk about without someone knowing about it. Not a single move could she make in secret. She was under complete and utter surveillance and there was nothing that she could do about it.

Was it worth it to let Rudy go for this? Was it worth it to give into the zoners’ demands, to give into the parents’ demands? Would she and Vinnie have been better off just defying them and enduring whatever else would come for them?

Terry wasn’t really sure anymore. She could feel her head becoming filled with a sort of dull pain as she tried to settle herself down. She rubbed her head with her fingers, massaging it as she let out a few small groans. It was going to be a long several years and she knew that she would have to get used to this. She and Vinnie were not going anywhere.

Now that she was no longer within sights of Rudy, she found it was a little easier to feel angry towards him. It was not as strong as before, but there was still a part of her that was getting ready to blame him for her misfortune. Although this time, it wasn’t exactly him who had gotten her arrested; it was his family and she and Vinnie kind of just complied. They had their chance to run, but at the time, they were just... She felt like they had allowed their guilt to control them a little too much. If they had just run...

There was nothing that could be done about that now, anyway. That was what Vinnie would tell her over and over again. Though pissed off at how things turned out and just how much time and effort was wasted on a convuluted plan that ultimately failed, Vinnie was shockingly quick to accept their fate. He wasn’t happy about it, but he understood that there were little options now.

Terry took slightly longer, and she wasn’t even sure how long that would last. How long would it take her before the irritation of being locked up in a small room, constantly watch, finally get to her?

She realized quite early on that any talk of getting revenge against Rudy and his family were off the table. Even whispering to Vinnie, who had been assigned as her cell mate, wouldn’t be a good idea. The wardens here would take notice and would take them in for questioning to figure out what they were talking about. And Terry had a good idea on just how these people functioned.

She looked over and watched as Vinnie slept on the bottom bed. His arms were folded behind his head and he looked almost at peace. She was somewhat grateful for his company. It was the only act of kindness these people gave her. Otherwise she would have been alone and she knew what isolation does to people. She had seen a form of that with Rudy.

So what exactly was going to happen to her now? She didn’t know, other than staying locked up in here for a long time. But if she were released, she didn’t know what...

“Hey, Ms. Bouffant!” A voice suddenly boomed, startling Terry and nearly making her fall to the ground. She whipped her head over in time to see a medium-sized warden standing in front of the bars. “Come over here now.” He continued, his voice authorative in tone.

Terry let out a small grumble, but she didn’t attempt to contradict the man. She immediately headed over to the door. She tried not to make any sort of disgusted or frustrated expression no matter how hard that it was. She recognized this particular warden. She hadn’t been here that long and already they had formed quite the ‘special’ relationship.

“Is there something wrong?” Terry asked as she tried to sound as calm and complient as possible.

The man, however, saw through her ruse and narrowed his eyes. Thankfully, he didn’t really do much further than that. He instead took a small step closer, raising his hand up in gesture, and said, “I would like you to come with me. There is someone who wants to see you.”

Terry cocked an eyebrow at this. “Someone came here to visit me? That’s a surprise.” She was being honest with that, despite what her tone might have suggested. “Who was it?”

The man replied, “That Rudy fellow.”

Terry immediately stiffened up that comment. She stared at the man as though he had lost his mind. She licked her lips slowly and she whispered again, “What...did you say...?”

“I said, Rudy Tabootie wants to speak with you.” The man repeated himself, sounding slightly annoyed. Noting Terry’s shocked expression, he shrugged, “Yeah I’m just as surprised as you are. Wasn’t he that boy you had mercilessly toyed with?”

Terry could feel a sharp sting in her stomach. She had no idea how to respond to that statement.

Taking the woman’s silence as an answer, the man took out his keys and moved towards the door. As he began to unlock it, he said, “He came in her earlier and insisted that he speak with you. Normally, he wouldn’t allow this with an unoccupied child. But given that we have some good security protocols set in place, and you will be accompanied, maybe a short visit would be fine.”

Terry said nothing. She was still confused as to why Rudy would want to see her of all people. Shouldn’t he have already turned on her completely at this point? Wasn’t he with his family and friends again? Surely he would have reverted to how he was before.

Or maybe he was already back to normal and there was another reason he wanted to see her. But what that could be, Terry had no clue. There wasn’t really much left to say between the two of them.

Well, there was only one way to find out. She would need to actually speak to him, and perhaps this confusion could be cleared up.

With that thought in mind, Terry followed the warden as he took her down the hallway.

sss

Rudy still couldn’t believe that he was doing this. Was this really a smart thing to do? He and Penny had been doing pretty good with living out a day by day basis, readjusting to everything, trying resume their normal lives. They had told what they could to their teachers and classmates. They had reintegrated relatively okay and things were kind of back to normal.

So why was he doing this? Why was he insisting on torturing himself in this way? What was he going to gain from all of this? Shouldn’t he just forget about it and move on?

Well, that was the thing. He kind of...couldn’t. He wasn’t really sure how to explain it. But there was a small part of him that couldn’t just let this go. He had to do something about this, or else it was going to drive him crazy. He needed to go right up to this woman and confront her, one final time. He needed to purge himselves of these feelings and get himself back on track. Or else, these feelings were going to overtake him and things were only going to get much worse.

Inhaling deeply, he continued to follow the guards down the hallway. He did feel some level of security keeping close to them. Something about them did help him feel safe. And he imagined that Terry would also be guarded. So there wouldn’t be any surprise attacks. Nothing to catch him off guard. Nothing that would....

He pushed the thoughts aside when he saw how close they were getting to their destination at this point. He could see where the long hallway started to end and where a large room began, opening up at the end into what looked like a room turned to the side. Rudy could see, just faintly the moment, a series of glass structures that he knew where the areas where people were permitted to speak to prisoners. The glass was thick enough to hold off even the most burly of prisoners, and the addition of guards made it even harder for them to do much of anything.

But even this wasn’t enough to completely settle down his nerves. Rudy knew that what he was about to do would still take a lot of guts. He and Terry had developed....quite the relationship and it wasn’t something that he could simply just deny. He sucked on his lip firmly before forcing himself to continue forward, feeling his leg muscles to slightly rigid.

Soon, Rudy could feel himself going through the doorway, now in a room with a higher roof and bright lights everywhere. He slowed down for a moment and looked around, not expecting this place to be so...big.

And then he looked ahead and he saw her.

Terry Bouffant.

He could feel his heart skipping a beat when he saw her. She stared at him intently and he could feel himself becoming frozen. He swallowed hard as he started back at her. He could feel his mouth tasting some bitterness from his churning stomach. He swallowed hard and forced himself over.

Terry showed no signs of real hostility, which was a plus. But her glare still seemed to permeate his soul. He could tell she was just confused as to why he was here, but that stare still made his movements become thick and forced. Even the presence of the guards behind Terry were enough to completely deter these feelings. Rudy would have to work hard to ensure that these feelings didn’t get in the way of this. He had to do this, or else he....

“Been a while, Rudy...” Terry spoke, her voice echoing through the speakers. It sounded a little strange and slightly echoy, but it was her nonetheless. “I didn’t think that you would come and visit me.”

Rudy licked his lip slowly. “Y-Yeah... Neither did I...”

At this point, Rudy had arrived at the small stool. He climbed up into it and positioned himself so that he could look at Terry. He felt a mixture of emotion seeing her this close to him, yet unable to even touch him. There was a part of him that still longed for her, and another part that was nervous about being here, even though he had nothing to worry about.

There was a bit of silence that followed at first. Rudy wasn’t really sure how to being this ‘meeting’, whatever it could be called. He had wanted to try to clear things up, and yet he realized that he had no idea how he would go about that. He gritted his teeth tightly and leaned himself slightly forward. In spite of not knowing how to begin, he realized that he needed to in order for them to gain any sort of ground.

So he forced himself to talk, despite how rigid his mouth and jaws felt doing so.

“So, uh.... Looks like you’ve been doing a bit well...” He flinched when he said that. That’s not what he had meant to...

Terry hissed softly. “Is that why you came over here? To mock me for....”

Rudy rapidly shook his head, bringing up his hands. “N-No, that’s not...”

“Then why did you come?” Terry cocked her head to the side. “Why aren’t you just moving on? Why don’t you just forget about me and pretend that none of this ever happened?” She turned her head to the side, grumbling lowly. “I’m sure both of us would do better if you did.”

Rudy stared at her for a few seconds, biting his tongue firmly. He struggled to think of what to say, his mind churning to find something to say, but he constantly came up with nothing. He could feel a burning sensation in his head as he kept trying so hard without much luck.

Terry glanced back at him. A small smile stretched along her face and she let out a bitter chuckle. “It’s...funny how things can turn out, eh...?”

Rudy bit his tongue. He didn’t really know what to say to that, although he was slightly unnerved by her tone. It made him wonder if a part of Terry had started to go a little insane from being locked up in here, or maybe from her conflicted feelings about him. Either way, he felt the need to want to move away from her, yet he remained, wanting to get this done and over with.

He forced himself to nod his head a little in agreemen with her. He whispered softly, “Y-Yeah... Sometimes things just...” He turned his head to the side, licking his lips slowly. He wondered how strange he must look, keeping in doing this. He shook the thought out of his head and looked back at Terry. “Well I am curious about something. I guess it’s just hard to put to words.”

“As with so many things.” Terry said, agreeing with him. She looked over at her hand, flexing her fingers, almost as though she were trying to act more like her old self. “And just what did you come here to ask me, chalk boy?”

Rudy flinched at the way she said that. It was like she were trying to intimidate him, yet it sounded a bit constrained, almost reluctant. He tried not to let it bother him too much as he forced himself to speak. “W-Well..I guess I just...wanted to know...” He stopped himself for a moment as he struggled to find the words to say. He gritted his teeth for a moment before he continued, “I was just wondering if...”

Terry cocked an eyebrow, staring at the boy intently. “If...what...?”

Rudy lowered his head. Oh gawd, this was so hard... After all this time.. With his heart skipping several beats, he looked back at Terry and said, “I-I... I was wanting to ask you if...if you were....” He kept tripping over his own words, making it incredibly hard to speak.

Terry looked as though she were starting to lose her patience. If the men hadn’t been here, Rudy imagined that she would have slammed her fist against the tablet, forcing him to complete his sentence. “Out with it...” She said forcefully, the tone making it clear that she was trying so hard not to scream at him.

Rudy froze for several moments, feeling his mouth going dry. He swallowed dryly and leaned his head away. He stared at Terry for several moments before he managed to speak again, his voice shaky and soft. “...d-d-d-did you really mean wh-wh-what you s-s-said? In the cave...?”

This question was more than enough to wipe Terry’s frown off of her face. She immediately stiffened up, her mouth dropping open. She stared at Rudy as though he had asked her an inappropriate question. She remained still for several moments before she said, “Oh...that....? W-Well I....” Her voice trailed off.

Rudy continued, “I’ve been thinking about it and.... I just want to know if you...”

“If I was telling the truth?” Terry finished for him, almost abruptly. Rudy froze at the way that she spoke, but he soon nodded his head slowly. Terry turned her gaze downwards. “Honestly I’m...not sure myself.”

“Oh...” Rudy said softly. He couldn’t say that he was surprised, but he was partially disappointed by that answer. “Okay...”

Terry looked back at him. “I suppose it’s just one of those things we might never know. Sometimes we do things..and say things in the heat of the moment that we just...don’t quite understand ourselves.” Terry said softly. It was hard for Rudy to dismiss it; she did sound sincere here, just as she had before. Perhaps that meant something? “But if you want the honest truth, kid...”

Rudy looked at her intently, awaiting an answer.

Terry gave him a small smile. “I did...kind of enjoy your company.”

Rudy widened his eyes a little at this. It was such a simple statement, but the implication was clear. And that was all that he needed to know to have his question answered. So it would seem that Terry really did have some honesty in her. Perhaps the incident in the cage wasn’t as fake as he was starting to fear that it was.

Slowly, he gave a nod to her as he pushed himself back a little further. “Thank you. That’s all I...”

“Wait.”

“What?”

“I have something to tell you.”

Rudy turned his head to the side and looked at Terry in confusion and a bit of uncertainty. Nonetheless, he leaned in a little closer, his one eye closest to her staring at the woman intently, and he said, “What did you want to tell me?”

Terry placed her arms on the platform in front of her and leaned in closely. “I have something I want to give you.”

Rudy blinked at this. “Me?”

Terry nodded her head. “I grabbed it before I almost forgot. I don’t remember how I got it... Nevermind, let me grab it.”

She reached down into her pocket. Terry rummaged through what Rudy guessed was a bag or pocket or something. Then, with a grunt, she pulled something out and placed it on the table.

It was some sort of piece of paper. With her hand on it, Terry pushed it underneath the very thin glass and said, “Here, take it. I’m sure you’ll be very interested in it.”

Rudy looked at Terry with uncertainty before reaching down and picking up the paper. He held it up and let his eyes skim over it. It took him only seconds to realize what this was.

It related to Penny and...

...was this how Terry could have...

Rudy looked over at Terry in shock, his mouth dropping open. “Y-You’re giving this to me...?”

Terry shrugged. “I have no more use for it. I’m sure you know what to do with it, right, chalk boy...?”

Rudy was utterly speechless. Well, this was...an interesting turn of events...

sss

“Rudy!”

“Come, get up!”

“It’s almost time to go!”

Rudy opened his eyes a little, the small crack enough to let in some light. He groaned softly and forced his head up, his vision rapidly clearing up. Was it really already time to get up? It felt like he had just laid down. He rubbed his head a little as he struggled to wake himself up.

Rudy let out a small yawn as he stretched himself up from the bed, moving his arms up and feeling his muscles become untangled and the soreness in them being relieved. He shook his head once and he looked over at the clock hanging on the wall. He realized that it was morning and he jumped out of bed.

He was still getting used to this room, but at least it wouldn’t be forever. He wouldn’t need to have to do this every single time and eventually, things really would be back to nromal.

His parents were still in jail. It was not to be a long, permanent sentence at least. Apparently they would have gotten off with just a fine, but his mother’s threat was taken seriously and it resulted in two months jail time if he remembered right. The man claimed that his mom had a weapon, which she denies. Rudy had his doubts his mom would go that far, but the damage was already done.

It burned Rudy up inside knowing that his parents were given any jail sentence for something that they didn’t do, as well as Mrs. Sanchez. But there was nothing that could be done now and their folks had to carry out their sentences before being released. At least he would be able to see his parents again soon, so it wasn’t a total loss.

It had been two days since he had visited Terry Bouffant, and he still had so many questions looming around in his mind. He was so uncertain of certain things, and he had a feeling that it would remain this way for a while. He had no plans on going back anyway. He was done with that woman, and she was done with him. Whatever relationship they had before, even if it could have blossomed into a genuine friendship, was over now and he was better off forgetting about it.

It was still such a shame, though. Rudy realized that he was probably still going to miss her. He never thought that he would feel like that with Terry or Vinnie. He still felt a sting in his chest as he realized that he would never see them again. It all felt so weird waking up and not seeing their faces....

He almost decided not to visit Terry at all, but he felt the need to, in order to get some small form of closure. It wasn’t what he had expected, but it was still something at least. And he did get something out of the visit, so he had no regrets in going.

The fact that Terry had given him the paperwork that she would have used to ruin Penny’s life and blame it on him... He never thought that she would do something like that. It still puzzled him, even after Terry said that she had no more use for it. Rudy didn’t really complain or question it, but here he was, still thinking about that and why she had done it. Had she been truthful or was she going to use it anyway but changed her mind at the last second?

Well, whatever it was, at least he had it. Not exactly in his possession anymore; he had it shredded not long after she gave it to him. Rudy had thought about showing Penny what it said, but knowing that it dealt with her mother... Rudy just didn’t have the heart to. Especially when Penny already told him how Terry taunted her on her mother having ‘skeletons in the closet’... Penny had decided it was just a mind game perpetrated by Terry in order to make her have some doubts. Rudy decided it was best to let Penny continue to think that, lest he accidentally bring about some tension between her and her mother.

Wanting to get himself off the topic, he quickly got himself dressed and he headed towards the door. He imagined the others were waiting for him at the door, perhaps having waited for him for a while. Rudy felt bad about that, and his guilt was enough to make him forget that he was hungry. He shrugged off his hunger as he quickly bolted down the steps, struggling to go as fast as he could.

Though his swift actions were almost enough to make him trip and fall down, he managed to keep himself steady as he rushed over to meet up with the others. It didn’t take him long to see them, although they were in the living room instead of at the door. That didn’t really ease his guilt much as he rushed in, his heart pounding and face covered in sweat.

“I’m so sorry, you guys!” Rudy cried out. He put his hand to his head and tried to fight off the dizziness that struck him. “I-I didn’t realize the time and....”

Aunt Tilly stared up at him with her arms folded against her chest. It was clear that she wasn’t happy with him. This caused his head to lower a little and he cringed slightly. He could hear his aunt let out an exasperated sigh. “I had gone up to your room twice and shook you awake and you went back to sleep apparently. I even tried to get you to come down for breakfast.”

Rudy flinched at this. He didn’t really remember this at all. Had he really been that exhausted last night? He couldn’t really fathom why.

But his aunt didn’t seem to be that angry. She gave him a more sympathetic look and said, “But given what’s happened... I can’t really blame you.” She turned her head towards Penny and her look deepened. “You both were through a lot. It would be wrong of me to.... Well anyway...”

“Hey...” Penny said as she took a few steps towards Tilly. “I...wanted to say something real quick.”

“Oh?” Tilly looked down at her in curiosity. “What did you want to say?”

“I just wanted to say....” Penny rubbed the back of her head, looking rather nervous. “J-Just...thank you for letting me stay with you and...” She put her hands together and lowered her head. “You didn’t have to and...”

“Oh Penny... Come here, you two.” Tilly opened up her arms and allowed the two children to come forward. “You don’t have to feel guilty about any of this. I volunteered because I wanted to. I hope you two don’t think you’re a burden to me. Because you’re not.” She hugged Rudy and Penny against herself, Sophie joining in as well.

“I know... I know... I just...” Penny whispered softly.

“Thanks, Aunt Tilly.” Rudy said, feeling guilty about staying quiet while Penny kept speaking. “Thank you so much...”

“You’re welcome, you two.”

They stayed like this for a little while. Just...not even a minute, but it felt that long. So many emotions swirled through their heads and they couldn’t fully relax. Although they had been together for a while now, some emotions hadn’t yet been relieved, and they built up overtime. A part of Rudy was surprised it took this long for Penny to finally fully unleash how she was feeling.

Rudy was just as grateful for his aunt’s help as she was. But for Penny, it was a bit more personal. She had no one nearby who could take her in, and if she had gone to her grandma’s, that meant being separated from her for who knows how long. It would even be questioned whether or not she should come back if her grandma found out she was kidnapped.

So having Aunt Tilly step in and being permitted to let Penny stay with her was....nothing short of a miracle, and a well appreciated one at that. It was no wonder Penny felt the urge to...

“I’m sorry to break this up....” Tilly said as she reluctantly pulled away from the two children. “But we should get going. Your parents are waiting for us to show up and you know that there’s only such a small frame of time we could come before they’ll cancel it.”

Rudy gave a small flinch at this, making him feel even more guilty. That was right. They did arrange something with the police station to come down for today for a brief visit. Er, the jail that is. They were pretty strict, though. So today might be one of the only times they could visit their parents before their two month sentence was over.

There was no more need for other words. He and Penny got the message immediately. With Sophie immediately pulled into her mother’s arms, Tilly had already made her way towards the door. Rudy and Penny followed closely behind. At least the jail was close, so if they hurried up, they would be able to get there and have at least some time to talk to their parents.

It was still going to be a bit awkward to see them. But... Rudy missed his parents so much and he didn’t get a chance to really reconnect with them before they were suddenly dragged out of his life again. He wanted to make up for lost time to at least some extent.

And this was the perfect opportunity to do just that.

sss

Penny leaned back and she hit against the tall grass of the large hill, her eyes fixated on what was above her. Rudy noted how peaceful she looked here, being able to come here and actually just...relax. He watched as she raised her arm up and pointed at one of the clouds overhead.

“Look up there, Rudy. Doesn’t that remind you of something?”

Rudy tilted his head upwards and he took immediate notice of the cloud that looked twisted and almost deformed. But not in a bad way. If anything, it looked rather comical. Rudy couldn’t help but chuckle at how it looked like a snake that was tied into a knot. “Yeah, that’s...that’s cute.”

Penny let out a sigh. “I guess the children on the other side are having a bit of fun, eh?” She turned her head and stared at Rudy with one eye. “The fact that they’re getting creative with clouds...”

Rudy nodded his head in return. Indeed, for some reason, the children around this area had been drawing more and more silly shaped clouds. Maybe it was because summer had just started? Kids were just excited and they wanted to express this excitement in some way. He would definitely take these clouds over other things he often noticed in ChalkZone. Such as dangerous zoners like Skrawl who were erased and..

Rudy felt a sense of relief when he reminded himself that Skrawl had been locked away. He didn’t believe for a second that he would never get out. But he was confident that the jail could keep him out of everyone’s way for a long time. That gave him one less thing to worry about with ChalkZone.

It was especially good when the ony two humans that knew about ChalkZone outside of him and Penny were both locked away. Terry and Vinnie, even if they wanted to try to get at ChalkZone again, would never be able to get out. Or was it just for a long time? Rudy didn’t know, but he could at least be prepared well before then. He and Penny both had plenty of time to think about that.

But for now he just wanted to relax a little. Things had finally started to shift more and more into their favor. Their parents had recently been released and they moved back into their original homes. It did still feel kind of weird, but nonetheless, they were all happy. Rudy remembered how much he and Penny had cried when they were returned to their parents. They hugged and refused to let go for a long time. He was surprised that they didn’t end up sticking to them at that point.

One of the first things his parents asked him was regarding his heart. He assured them that Aunt Tilly took him to a doctor right away. His heart was irritated, but thankfully there wasn’t any further damage. That was a relief to his parents, but they were still worried and wanted to know what happened.

It had been difficult, but Rudy did try to explain what Vinnie and Terry had done. To some extent, anyway. He didn’t say anything regarding going to ChalkZone, though he did inform them how they wanted him to show them the ‘chalk world’ and how they tried to make him dependent on them so that he would comply more easily. He was not surprised at all when his parents expressed disgust with this. He assured them that they were locked up and it was only this reminder that helped them settle down.

His thoughts were interrupted when Penny called out to him.

“Snap should be here soon. He says that there’s a new place recently erased into ChalkZone that he thinks we’d both enjoy.” Penny pushed herself up, stretching her arms upward for a second before settling them down in front of her, her body arched forward. She looked over at Rudy and said, “How about we go and meet him half way?”

“Yeah that...” Rudy was about to get up, but something else caught his eye. He couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t think we need to do that.”

“What do you...” Penny immediately went silent upon seeing what Rudy meant. “Oh... Hello, Snap!”

“Hey you guys!” Snap waved to his friends as he ran towards them eagerly. When he arrived, he was huffing and puffing quite a bit. But the look in his eyes showed no distress, just excitement. “Are you ready to have some fun? I swear, you’re going to love...”

“Actually...”

Snap immediately took a small step back. “What is it, Bucko? You don’t want to...”

Rudy shook his head. “It’s not that. I just wanted to ask you a quick question first.” Rudy paused for a moment. He did feel a little guilty in asking this right now. He thought that perhaps it could wait and they could focus on this first. But it was going to eat away at him if he didn’t ask. And so he did. “How is Rapsheeba doing?”

Penny’s eyes widened slightly at this before she nodded her head to Snap. “Yeah... How is she? Are the therapy sessions doing well for her?”

Snap nodded his head. “Yeah she seems to be doing better.” He lowered his gaze for a moment, biting his lip. “I still wish that creepazoid got more than what he did...”

Penny flinched at this. She quickly relaxed herself as she gently gripped Snap’s shoulder. “At least he’s locked up now and he can’t do anything. Try to consider that as karma for what he had done.”

Snap growled softly, and soon forced out an exhale. “I suppose you are right.”

Rudy felt a little worse about inadvertantly bringing up that topic. That hadn’t been his intention, to remind Snap of what Vinnie and Terry did. Okay so it was mostly Vinnie, but Terry still authorized it and...

Thankfully Penny stopped his thoughts in their tracks as she said, “And how is Lazlo...?”

Rudy couldn’t believe he had nearly forgotten about that guy. Lazlo was the stick figure zoner, one of the bakers wasn’t he, that had tried to stop Skrawl. But he had ultimately failed and he had gotten hurt. Didn’t Biclops find him? Something about resecuring the red chalk zoners once again before going out to check and...

He couldn’t remember the full details. But still, he felt himself drawn to the question, feeling himself tense up. He hoped Lazlo was all right. The last thing he wanted was for another zoner to be suffering in part because of the mess that he got himself sunken into. The guilt already began to tighten around himself, like vines that refused to let go.

Only Snap’s voice, for a lack of a better term, snapped him out of it. “He’s doing fine. He’s going to have a limp for a while, though.”

“Well that’s good. That he’s doing better, I mean.” Penny said with a smile.

“Yeah...” Rudy nodded in agreement. “I’m glad to hear it.” His voice trailed off and he wasn’t sure what else to say.

Snap immediately tried to perk up. “Why don’t we just get off this uncomfortable topic for a while and have some fun?” He struggled to smile the best that he could. “I guarantee that you will enjoy this game.”

Penny chortled as she said, “You know, just because you keep saying that doesn’t mean that we’re right away going to think that it’s awesome.” She gestured with her hand and continued, “Why not just show us?” She gave a sly smile. “Put your claim where your mouth is...” She immediately stopped herself, tapping her finger against her chin thoughtfully. “Or...” She soon waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, you know what I mean!”

Snap folded his arms against himself and smirked at Penny, cocking up an eyebrow. In a somewhat teasing voice, “Yeah, I got you, Buckette.” He turned himself around and made a quick gesture with his head and hand. “Hurry now! They’re about to make the first move!”

Rudy watched as his friends began to move out ahead of him. He took this moment to momentarily reflect on what had happened. For the past few months, it seemed like he was living a nightmare that wouldn’t end. Just when he thought it was over something else would happen. It made him wonder if something else was going to happen, just waiting around the corner...

No, enough of that dreadful thinking. Today was a day of fun and relaxation. He could always talk to his friends later. Right now, it was time for him and Penny to kick back and enjoy themselves.

With a smile spreading along his face, Rudy waved to his friends and ran up to catch up with them. “Hey, wait for me!”


End file.
